Polypeptides, polynucleotides and uses thereof

ABSTRACT

Substantially pure two kinase domain protein kinases comprising the amino acid sequences provided in the description, variants, fusions, fragments, or derivatives thereof useful in screening assays for drugs. Applications thereof in the modulation of CREB, COX2 and IL2 activities.

The present application is a US national stage filing of PCT Application No. PCT/GB99/01660, filed Jun. 8, 1999, which claims foreign priority of UK 9813467.9, filed Jun. 24, 1998 and UK 9817303.2, filed Aug. 10, 1998.

The present invention relates to polypeptides, polynucleotides and uses thereof, in particular to members of the two-kinase domain protein kinase family.

Ten mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) family members have been identified in mammalian cells (reviewed in Cohen, 1997). Two of these, MAPK1/ERK1 and MAPK2/ERK2, are activated strongly by polypeptide growth factors whose receptors are protein tyrosine kinases and by tumour promoting phorbol esters, but much more weakly (in most cell contexts) by stress stimuli and proinflammatory cytokines. In contrast, the other MAPK family members are strongly activated by stress signals and proinflammatory cytokines, but only weakly (in most cell contexts) by polypeptide growth factors and phorbol esters. For this reason, they are frequently referred to as stress-activated protein kinases (SAPKs).

A major challenge in this field is to identify the physiological substrates and roles of each of the MAPKs and SAPKs, but this problem is compounded by the finding that a number of the substrates are themselves protein kinases that are likely to have numerous physiological roles. Thus MAPK1/ERK1 and MAPK2/ERK2 activate three closely related protein kinases known as MAPK-activated protein kinases-1a, 1b and 1c (MAPKAP-K1a/b/c, also known as RSK1/2/3) (Sturgill et al., 1988 & Zhao et al 1995), while SAPK2a/p38 and SAPK2b/p38β activate two closely related enzymes termed MAPKAP-K2 (Freshney et al., 1994; Rouse et al, 1994) and MAPKAP-K3 (Clifton et al., 1996; McLaughlin et al., 1996). Several lines of evidence indicate that the MAPKAP-K1 isoforms are in vivo substrates for the MAPKs/ERKs and that MAPKAP-K2/K3 are in vivo substrates for the SAPK2/p38 isoforms. For example, the drug PD 98059, which suppresses the activation of MAPKs/ERKs by preventing activation of their upstream activator MAPK kinase-1 (MKK1), also inhibits activation of the MAPKAP-K1 isoforms (Alessi et al., 1995), but not MAPKAP-K2/K3 (Clifton et al., 1996).

Conversely, the drug SB 203580, which is a specific inhibitor of SAPK2a/p38 and SAPK2b/p38β, prevents the activation of MAPKAP-K2/K3 (Cuenda et al., 1995; Clifton et al., 1996).

The MAPKAP-K1 isoforms are unusual in that they each contain two protein kinase domains within a single polypeptide and one role of the C-terminal kinase domain is to activate the N-terminal kinase domain allowing the latter to phosphorylate exogenous substrates (Bjorbaek et al., 1995; Vik and Ryder, 1997; Dalby et al., 1998). The phorbol ester-induced activation of MAPKAP-K1a in COS1 cells is accompanied by the phosphorylation of six residues (Ser222, Thr360, Ser364, Ser381, Thr574 and Ser737), four of which (Ser222, Ser364, Ser381 and Thr574) are critical for activation. The MAPKs/ERKs phosphorylate Thr574 in the C-terminal domain and Thr360 and Ser364, which are located between the two kinase domains. The phosphorylation of Thr574 activates the C-terminal domain, which then phosphorylates Ser381. The combined phosphorylation of Ser364 and Ser381 triggers activation of the N-terminal domain, provided that Ser222 is also phosphorylated (Dalby et al., 1998). The identity of the Ser222 kinase is unclear.

The importance of MAPKAP-K1 in cell function is indicated by the finding that inactivating mutations in the MAPKAP-K1b (RSK2) gene are the cause of Coffin Lowry Syndrome, a disease associated with progressive skeletal abnormalities and severe mental retardation (Trivier et al., 1996). However, although the MAPKAP-K1 isoforms phosphorylate many proteins in vitro, their physiological role(s) has yet to be defined. MAPKAP-K1 phosphorylates the transcription factor CREB (Cyclic AMP Response Element Binding protein) in vitro and at the residue (Ser133) known to trigger activation in vivo (Xing et al., 1996). MAPKAP-K1b is also reported to be the major kinase acting on CREBtide (a synthetic peptide corresponding to the sequence surrounding Ser133) that can be detected in lysates prepared from NGF-stimulated PC 12 cells (Ginty et al., 1994; Xing et al., 1996). Moreover, the phosphorylation of CREB at Ser133 is induced by signals that activate the MAPK/ERK cascade and prevented by PD 98059 (Pende et al., 1997). These findings suggest that CREB may be a physiological substrate for MAPKAP-K1, but the possibility that CREB is phosphorylated by another protein kinase that lies “downstream” of MAPKs/ERKs is not excluded.

MAPKAP-K2/K3 also phosphorylates CREB at Ser133 in vitro (Tan et al., 1996) and MAPKAP-K2 is the major CREBtide kinase detected in lysates prepared from SK-N-MC cells that have been stimulated with fibroblast growth factor or stressed by incubation with sodium arsenite (Tan et al., 1996). Moreover, these stimuli induce the phosphorylation of Ser133 in SK-N-MC cells and phosphorylation is prevented by SB 203580 (Tan et al., 1996). These findings suggest that CREB may be a physiological substrate for MAPKAP-K2/K3, but the possibility that CREB is phosphorylated by another protein kinase that lies “downstream” of SAPK2/p38 is not excluded by these data. MAPK1/ERK1 and MAPK2/ERK2 phosphorylate MAPKAP-K1 isoforms in vivo (but not MAPKAP-K2/K3), and SAPK2a/p38 and SAPK2b/p38β phosphorylate MAPKAP-K2/K3 in vivo, (but not MAPKAP-K1). However, two closely-related protein kinases have been identified more recently that are activated in vitro and in vivo by both MAPKs/ERKs and SAPK2/p38. For these reasons they have been termed MAPK-integrating kinases-1 and −2 (MNK1, MNK2) (Fukunaga & Hunter, 1997; Waskiewicz et al., 1997). Like MAPKAPK2/K3, MNK1 and MNK2 are single kinase domain enzymes. One physiological substrate of MNK1 may be the protein synthesis initiation factor eIF4E. MNK phosphorylates eIF4E at Ser209 in vitro (Waskiewicz et al., 1997), the residue whose phosphorylation is induced by growth factors or phorbol esters in vivo. Growth factor induced phosphorylation of Ser209 is prevented by PD 98059, while the phosphorylation of Ser209 induced by stress signals is suppressed by SB 203580 (Wang et al., 1998).

We now describe the identification and characterisation of two novel protein kinases, that resemble the MAPKAP-K1 isoforms in containing two protein kinase domains within a single polypeptide. However, unlike MAPKAP-K1 (but like MNKs) they are activated in vitro and in vivo by either MAPKs/ERKs or SAPK2/p38 and, for this reason they have been termed Mitogen and Stress-activated protein Kinases-1 and −2 (MSK 1, MSK2). We also present evidence which suggests that MSK1 and/or MSK2, rather than MAPKAP-K1 or MAPKAP-K2/K3, may mediate the activation of the transcription factors CREB and ATF1 by growth factors and stress signals.

Inflammatory mediators, such as prostaglandins, leukotrienes, interleukin-1 (IL-1) and TNF are produced in macrophages during bacterial infection by signal transduction pathways that are triggered when liopolysaccharide (LPS; endotoxin), a component of the cell wall of gram-negative bacteria, interacts with the CD14 receptor. These inflammatory mediators play key roles in mounting immune responses needed to fight the bacterial infection. However, their overproduction can also be the cause of chronic inflammatory disease and septic shock. For these reasons, drugs that are capable of suppressing the production of inflammatory mediators may be useful in treating these conditions. Cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) catalyses a rate limiting step in the production of prostaglandins and leukotrienes and is synthesised when macrophages are exposed to LPS (Dubois et al(1998) FASEB J 12, 1063–1073).

CREB may be involved in the transcription of the inducible cyclooxygenase-2 (COX2) gene. COX2 appears to be regulated at the transcription or translation levels. The COX2 protein appears to be inactivated or degraded rapidly (see for example, Marshall et al(1979) “Constraints on prostaglandin synthesis in tissues” J Biol Chem 262, 3510–3517). The mRNA may also be unstable: the long 3′ untranslated portion of COX2 mRNA contains multiple copies of the Shaw-Kamen sequence (AUUUA) which are a feature of early response genes with rapid mRNA degradation (Kosaka et al(1994) Eur J Biochem 221, 889–897).

CREB control of COX2 expression is discussed in Montminy (1997) Ann Rev Biochem 66, 807–822.

CREB may also induce expression of the c-Fos (or Fos) gene. This gene is important in the control of proliferation and differentiation. Aberrant control of c-Fos may be involved in cancer, and inhibition of Fos transcription may be useful as an anticancer treatment applicable to most cancers.

The promoter for IL-1 contains a cyclic AMP-response element (Chandra et al (1995) J Immunol 155, 4535–4543).

ATF1 appears to perform a similar role to CREB and may be interchangeable with CREB.

We have identified a novel mitogen and stress-activated protein kinase (which we call MSK1) and a closely related homologue (which we call MSK2) that contain two protein kinase domains in a single polypeptide. MSK1 (802 residues) displays 40% overall amino acid sequence identity to MAP kinase-activated protein kinase-1 (MAPKAP-K1, also termed p90 RSK), another “two kinase domain” enzyme. The N- and C-terminal kinase domains of MSK1 are 54% and 44% identical to the corresponding domains in MAPKAP-K1, and the four key activating phosphorylation sites in MAPKAP-K1 are conserved in MSK1. Like MAPKAP-K1 (Sturgill et al (1988)), MSK1 is activated in vitro by MAPK2/ERK2 but, unlike MAPKAP-K1, it is also activated by stress-activated protein kinase2a (SAPK2a, also termed p38β and SAPK2b/p38β2. Consistent with these findings, endogenous MSK1 is activated in 293 cells by either polypeptide growth factor/phorbol ester stimulation or by exposure to UV radiation, oxidative and chemical stress, whereas MAPKAP-K1 is only activated significantly by growth factor/phorbol ester stimulation. The activation of MSK1 by growth factor/phorbol ester stimulation is prevented by the drug PD 98059, which suppresses activation of the MAPK cascade, while the activation of MSK1 by UV radiation, oxidative and chemical stress is largely prevented by SB 203580, a specific inhibitor of SAPK2a/p38 and SAPK2b/p38β. In HeLa cells, both PD 98059 and SB 203580 are required to suppress the activation of MSK1 by TNF because this agonist activates both the MAPK/ERK and the SAPK2/p38 cascades. The activation of MSK1 by either phorbol esters or UV radiation is abolished by making single inactivating mutations in either the N-terminal or C-terminal kinase domain. MSK1 is localised in the nucleus of cells and phosphorylates the transcription factor CREB at Ser133. CREB is a much better substrate in vitro for MSK1 than MAPKAP-K1 and MAPKAP-K2 which also phosphorylate CREB at Ser133. A synthetic peptide corresponding to the sequence surrounding Ser133 is phosphorylated with a remarkably low Km value (<0.1 μM). We demonstrate that the effects of SB 203580 and PD 98059 on the EGF, UV and TNF-induced activation of CREB and ATF1 mirror the effects of these inhibitors on MSK1 activation. These findings together with other observations, suggest that MSK1 and MSK2 may mediate the growth factor and stress-induced activation of CREB.

We present evidence that MSK1 and MSK2 may regulate the transcription of the genes for proinflammatory mediators COX-2 and IL-1 and the induction of the proinflammatory COX-2 protein. We demonstrate that MSK1 and MSK2 are both activated when macrophages are stimulated with LPS. Compounds which suppress the activation or activity of MSK1 and MSK2 may prevent the LPS-induced phosphorylation of CREB and ATF1 and/or the transcription factor C/EBPβ, the transcription of the COX-2 and IL-1 genes and the induction of the COX-2 protein.

CREB/ATF1 appears to be necessary for the transcription of COX-2; inhibitors of MSK1 may be useful in treating diseases or conditions in which COX2 has been implicated or in which non-steroidal antiinflammatories (NSAIDs), in particular COX2 selective inhibitors, have been found to be useful. Such diseases or conditions may include those in which inflammatory processes are thought to be involved or in which analgesia may be beneficial.

CREB/ATF1 may be necessary for the transcription of c-Fos and therefore inhibitors of MSK1/MSK2 may be useful in treating diseases or conditions in which c-Fos has been implicated. Such diseases or conditions may include cancer.

A first aspect of the invention provides a substantially pure polypeptide comprising the amino acid sequence

MEEEGGSSGGAAGTSADGGDGGEQLLTVKHELRTANLTGHAEKVGIENFEL LKVLGTGAYGKVFLVRKISGHDTGKLYAMKVLKKATIVQKAKTTEHTRTER QVLEHIRQSPFLVTLHYAFQTETKLHLILDYINGGELFTHLSQRERFTEHE VQIYVGEIVLALEHLHKLGIIYRDIKLENILLDSNGHVVLTDFGLSKEFVA DETERAYSFCGTIEYMAPDIVRGGDSGHDKAVDWWSLGVLMYELLTGASPF TVDGEKNSQAEISRRILKSEPPYPQEMSALAKDLIQRLLMKDPKKRLGCGP RDADEIKEHLFFQKINWDDLAAKKVPAPFKPVIRDELDVSNFAEEFTEMDP TYSPAALPQSSEKLFQGYSFVAPSILFKRNAAVIDPLQFHMGVERPGVTNV ARSAMMKDSPFYQHYDLDLKDKPLGEGSFSICRKCVHKKSNQAFAVKIISK RMEANTQKEITALKLCEGHPNIVKLHEVFHDQLHTFLVMELLNGGELFERI KKKKHFSETEASYIMRKLVSAVSHMHDVGVVHRDLKPENLLFTDENDNLEI KIIDFGFARLKPPDNQPLKTPCFTLHYAAPELLNQNGYDESCDLWSLGVIL YTMLSGQVPFQSHDRSLTCTSAVEIMKKIKKGDFSFEGEAWKNVSQEAKDL IQGLLTVDPNKRLKMSGLRYNEWLQDGSQLSSNPLMTPDILGSSGAAVHTC VKATFHAFNKYKREGFCLQNVDKAPLAKRRKMKKTSTSTETRSSSSESSHS SSSHSHGKTTPTKTLQPSNPADSNNPETLFQFSDSVA (SEQ ID NO:1) or

TEANLTGHEEKVSVENFELLKVLGTGAYGKVFLVRKAGGHDAGKLYAMKVL RKAALVQRAKTQEHTRTERSVLELVRQAPFLVTLHYAFQTDAKLHLILDYV SGGEMFTHLYQRQYFKEAEVRVYGGEIVLALEHLHKLGIIYRDLKLENVLL DSEGHIVLTDFGLSKEFLTEEKERTFSFCGTIEYMAPEIIRSKTGHGKAVD WWSLGILLFELLTGASPFTLEGERNTQAEVSRRILKCSPPFPPRIGPVAQD LLQRLLCKDPKKRLGAGPQGAQEVRNHPFFQGLDWVALAARKIPAPFRPQI RSELDVGNFAEEFTRLEPVYSPPGSPPPGDPRIFQGYSFVAPSILFDHNNA VMTDGLEAPGAGDRPGRAAVARSAMMQQYELDLREPALGQGSFSVCRRCRQ RQSGQEFAVKILSRRLEANTQREVAALRLCQSHPNVVNLHEVTHHDQLHTY LVLELLRGGELLEHIRKKRHFSESEASQILRSLVSAVSFMHEEAGVVHRDL KPENILYADDTPGAPVKIIDFGFARLRPQSPGVPMQTPCFTLQYAAPELLA QQGYDESCDLWSLGVILLTVDQVPFQGASGQGGQSQAAEIMCKIREGRFSL DGEAWQGVSEEAKELVRGLLTVDPAKRLKLEGLRGSSWLQDGSARSSPPLR TPDVLESSGPAVRSGLNATFMAFNRGKREGFFLKSVENAPL (SEQ ID NO:2) or

TEANLTGHEEKVSVENFELLKVLGTGAYGKVFLVRKAGGHDAGKLYAMKVL RKAALVQRAKTQEHTRTERSVLELVRQAPFLVTLHYAFQTDAKLHLILDYV SGGEMFTHLYQRQYFKEAEVRVYGGEIVLALEHLHKLGIIYRDLKLENVLL DSEGHIVLTDFGLSKEFLTEEKERTFSFCGTIEYMAPEIIRSKTGHGKAVD WWSLGILLFELLTGASPFTLEGERNTQAEVSRRILKCSPPFPPRIGPVAQD LLQRLLCKDPKKRLGAGPQGAQEVRNHPFFQGLDWVALAARKIPAPFRPQI RSELDVGNFAEEFTRLEPVYSPPGSPPPGDPRIFQGYSFVAPSILFDHNNA VMTDGLEAPGAGDRPGRAAVARSAIVIMQDSPFFQQYELDLREPALGQGSF SVCRRCRQRQSGQEFAVKILSRRLEANTQREVAALRLCQSHPNVVNLHEVH HDQLHTYLVLELLRGGELLEHIRKKRHFSESEASQILRSLVSAVSFMHEEA GVVHRDLKPENILYADDTPGAPVKIIDFGFARLRPQSPGVPMQTPCFTLQY AAPELLAQQGYDESCDLWSLGVILYMMLSGQVPFQGASGQGGQSQAAEIMC KIREGRFSLDGEAWQGVSEEAKELVRGLLTVDPAKRLKLEGLRGSSWLQDG SARSSPPLRTPDVLESSGPAVRSGLNATFMAFNRGKREGFFLKSVENAPL (SEQ ID NO:3) or

RILKCSPPFPPRIGPVAQDLLQRLLCKDPKKRLGAGPQGAQEVRNHPFFQG LDWVALAARKIPAPFRPQIRSELDVGNFAEEFTRLEPVYSPPGSPPPGDPR IFQGYSFVAPSILFDHNNAVMTDGLEAPGAGDRPGRAAVARSAMMQDSPFF QQYELDLREPALGQGSFSVCRRCRQRQSGQEFAVKILSRRLEANTQREVAA LRLCQSHPNVVNLHEVHHDQLHTYLVLELLRGGELLEHIRKKRHFSESEAS QILRSLVSAVSFMHEEAGVVHRDLKPENILYADDTPGAPVKIIDFGFARLR PPGVPMQTPCFTLQYAAPELLAQQGYDESCDLWSLGVILYMMLSGQVPFQG ASGQGGQXQAAEIMCKIREGRFSLDGEAWQGVSEEAKELVRGLLTVDPAKR LKLEGLRGSSWLQDGSARSSPPLRTPDVLESSGPAVRSGLNATFMAFNRGK REGFFLKSVENAPL (SEQ ID NO:4) or

HASGDEDEDEGCAVELQITEANLTGHEEKVSVENFALLKVLGTGAYGKVFL VRKTGGHDAGKLYAMKVLRKAALVQRAKTQEHTRTERSVLELVRQAPFLVT LHYAFQTDAKLHLILDYVSGGEMFTHLYQRQYFKEAEVRVYGGEIVLALEH LHKLGIIYRDLKLENVLLDSEGHIVLTDFGLSKEFLTEEKERTFSFCGTIE YMAPEIIRSKAGHGKAVDWWSLGILLFELLTGASPFTLEGERNTQAEVSRR ILKCSPPFPLRIGPVAQDLLQRLLCKDPKKRLGAGPQGAQEVKSHPFFRVW TGWALAARKIPAPFRPQIRSELDVGNFAEEFTRLEPVYSPAGSPPPGDPRI FQGYSFVAPSILFDHNNAVMADVLQAPGAGYRPGRAAVARSAMMQDSPFFQ QYELDLREPALGQGSFSVCRRCRQRQSGQEFAVKILSRRLEENTQREVAAL RLCQSHPNVVNLHEVLHDQLHTYLVLELLRGGELLEHIRKKRLFSESEASQ ILRSLVSAVSFMHEEAGVVHRDLKPENILYADDTPGAPVKIIDFGFARLRP QSPAEPMQTPCFTLQYAAPELLAQQGYDESCDLWSLGVILYMMLSGQVPFQ GASGQGGQSQAAEIMCKIREGRFSLDGEAWQGVSEEAKELVRGLLTVDPAK RLKLEGLRSSSWLQDGSARSSPPLRTPDVLESSGPAVRSGLNATFMAFNRG KREGFFLKSVENAPLAKRRKQKLRSA (SEQ ID NO:5) or a variant, fragment, fusion or derivative thereof, or a fusion of a said variant or fragment or derivative. The polypeptide whose amino acid sequences are shown above are considered to be mitogen and stress activated protein kinases.

The polypeptides with the amino acid sequences as shown above are herein referred to as MSK1 (mitogen and stress-activated protein kinase 1; the first sequence shown) or MSK2 (mitogen and stress-activated protein kinase 2; the second sequence is a partial sequence of a human MSK2, the third a partial sequence of a splice variant of human MSK2, the fourth a partial sequence of a human MSK2 and the fifth a partial sequence of mouse MSK2).

The amino acid sequence of MSK1 is also shown in FIG. 1 (MSK1). A partial amino acid sequence of a human MSK2 are also shown in FIG. 2C. The mouse MSK2 is a variant of the human MSK2 and is also shown in FIG. 2C.

By “substantially pure” we mean that the said polypeptide is substantially free of other proteins. Thus, we include any composition that includes at least 30% of the protein content by weight as the said polypeptide, preferably at least 50%, more preferably at least 70%, still more preferably at least 90% and most preferably at least 95% of the protein content is the said polypeptide.

Thus, the invention also includes compositions comprising the said polypeptide and a contaminant wherein the contaminant comprises less than 70% of the composition by weight, preferably less than 50% of the composition, more preferably less than 30% of the composition, still more preferably less than 10% of the composition and most preferably less than 5% of the composition by weight.

The invention also includes the substantially pure said polypeptide when combined with other components ex vivo, said other components not being all of the components found in the cell in which said polypeptide is found.

Variants (whether naturally-occurring or otherwise) may be made using the methods of protein engineering and site-directed mutagenesis well known in the art using the recombinant polynucleotides described below.

By “fragment of said polypeptide” we include any fragment which retains activity or which is useful in some other way, for example, for use in raising antibodies or in a binding assay.

By “fusion of said polypeptide” we include said polypeptide fused to any other polypeptide. For example, the said polypeptide may be fused to a polypeptide such as glutathione-S-transferase (GST) or protein A in order to facilitate purification of said polypeptide. Examples of such fusions to GST are given in Example 1. Similarly, the said polypeptide may be fused to an oligo-histidine tag such as His6 or to an epitope recognised by an antibody such as the well known Myc tag epitope. Fusions to any variant, fragment or derivative of said polypeptide are also included in the scope of the invention.

By “variants” of the polypeptide we include insertions, deletions and substitutions, either conservative or non-conservative. In particular we include variants of the polypeptide where such changes do not substantially alter the activity of the said polypeptide. Variants of MSK1 or MSK2 do not include polypeptides which have the amino acid sequence of human MAPKAP-K1a/b/c, also known as Rsk1/2/3. Variants of MSK1 or MSK2 also do not include polypeptides which have the amino acid sequence of Drosphila melanogaster p70 S6 kinase, as described in WO 98/03662. This polypeptide is approximately 55% identical to MSK1 or MSK2 in the N-terminal domain, and is approximately 20% identical overall.

It will be appreciated that a variant that comprises substantially all of a sequence shown above (ie substantially full-length MSK1) or substantially full-length human or mouse MSK2 comprising substantially all of a human or mouse MSK2 sequence shown above may be particularly useful. By “substantially all” is meant at least 80%, preferably 90%, still more preferably 95%, 98% or 100% (ie all) of the said sequence. By “substantially full-length” is meant comprising at least 80%, preferably 90%, still more preferably 95%, 98% or 100% (ie all) of the sequence of the full length polypeptide.

By “conservative substitutions” is intended combinations such as Gly, Ala; Val, Ile, Leu; Asp, Glu; Asn, Gln; Ser, Thr; Lys, Arg; and Phe, Tyr.

It is particularly preferred if the polypeptide variant has an amino acid sequence which has at least 65% identity with the amino acid sequence given above, more preferably at least 75%, still more preferably at least 80%, yet more preferably at least 90%, and most preferably at least 95% or 99% identity with the amino acid sequence given above.

The percent sequence identity between two polypeptides may be determined using suitable computer programs, for example the GAP program of the University of Wisconsin Genetic Computing Group and it will be appreciated that percent identity is calculated in relation to polypeptides whose sequences have been aligned optimally.

The alignment may alternatively be carried out using the Clustal W program (Thompson et al., 1994). The parameters used may be as follows: Fast pairwise alignment parameters: K-tuple(word) size; 1, window size; 5, gap penalty; 3, number of top diagonals; 5. Scoring method:×percent. Multiple alignment parameters: gap open penalty; 10, gap extension penalty; 0.05.

Scoring matrix: BLOSUM.

Thus, using these parameters, MKS1 may have 42–44% overall identity with the closest homologues in the NCBI database; MAPKAP-K1a,b and c.

A particular embodiment of the invention provides a substantially pure human MSK1 polypeptide which consists of the amino acid sequence

MEEEGGSSGGAAGTSADGGDGGEQLLTVKHELRTANLTGHAEKVGIENFEL LKVLGTGAYGKVFLVRKISGHDTGKLYAMKVLKKATIVQKAKTTEHTRTER QVLEHIRQSPFLVTLHYAFQTETKLHLILDYINGGELFTHLSQRERFTEHE VQIYVGEIVLALEHLHKLGIIYRDIKLENILLDSNGHVVLTDFGLSKEFVA DETERAYSFCGTIEYMAPDIVRGGDSGHDKAVDWWSLGVLMYELLTGASPF TVDGEKNSQAEISRRILKSEPPYPQEMSALAKDLIQRLLMKDPKKRLGCGP RDADEIKEHLFFQKINWDDLAAKKVPAPFKPVIRDELDVSNFAEEFTEMDP TYSPAALPQSSEKLFQGYSFVAPSILFKRNAAVIDPLQFHMGVERPGVTNV ARSAMMKDSPFYQHYDLDLKDKPLGEGSFSICRKCVHKKSNQAFAVKIISK RMEANTQKEITALKLCEGHPNIVKLHEVFHDQLHTFLVMELLNGGELFERI KKKKHFSETEASYIMRKLVSAVSHMHDVGVVHRDLKPENLLFTDENDNLEI KIIDFGFARLKPPDNQPLKTPCFTLHYAAPELLNQNGYDESCDLWSLGVIL YTMLSGQVPFQSHDRSLTCTSAVEIMKKIKKGDFSFEGEAWKNVSQEAKDL IQGLLTVDPNKRLKMSGLRYNEWLQDGSQLSSNPLMTPDILGSSGAAVHTC VKATFHAFNKYKREGFCLQNVDKAPLAKRRKMKKTSTSTETRSSSSESSHS SSSHSHGKTTPTKTLQPSNPADSNNPETLFQFSDSVA (SEQ ID NO:1) or naturally occurring allelic variants thereof. The amino acid sequence is also shown as the translation of a polynucleotide sequence in FIG. 1.

A further particular embodiment of the invention provides a substantially pure MSK2 polypeptide which consists of the amino acid sequence

TEANLTGHEEKVSVENFELLKVLGTGAYGKVFLVRKAGGHDAGKLYAMKVL RKAALVQRAKTQEHTRTERSVLELVRQAPFLVTLHYAFQTDAKLHLILDYV SGGEMFTHLYQRQYFKEAEVRVYGGEIVLALEHLHKLGIIYRDLKLENVLL DSEGHIVLTDFGLSKEFLTEEKERTFSFCGTTEYMAPEIIRSKTGHGKAVD WWSLGILLFELLTGASPFTLEGERNTQAEVSRRILKCSPPFPPRIGPVAQD LLQRLLCKDPKKRLGAGPQGAQEVRNHPFFQGLDWVALAARKIPAPFRPQI RSELDVGNFAEEFTRLEPVYSPPGSPPPGDPRIFQGYSFVAPSILFDHNNA VMTDGLEAPGAGDRPGRAAVARSAMMQQYELDLREPALGQGSFSVCRRCRQ RQSGQEFAVKILSRRLEANTQREVAALRLCQSHPNVVNLHEVHHDQLHTYL VLELLRGGELLEHIRKKRHFSESEASQILRSLVSAVSFMHEEAGVVHRDLK PENILYADDTPGAPVKIIDFGFARLRPQSPGVPMQTPCFTLQYAAPELLAQ QGYDESCDLWSLGVILYMMLSGQVPFQGASGQGGQSQAAEIMCKIREGRFS LDGEAWQGVSEEAKELVRGLLTVDPAKRLKLEGLRGSSWLQDGSARSSPPL RTPDVLESSGPAVRSGLNATFMAFNRGKREGFFLKSVENAPL (SEQ ID NO:2) or

TEANLTGHEEKVSVENFELLKVLGTGAYGKVFLVRKAGGHDAGKLYAMKV LRKAALVQRAKTQEHTRTERSVLELVRQAPFLVTLHYAFQTDAKLHLILD YVSGGEMFTHLYQRQYFKEAEVRVYGGEIVLALEHLHKLGIIYRDLKLEN VLLDSEGHIVLTDFGLSKEFLTEEKERTFSFCGTIEYMAPEIIRSKTGHG KAVDWWSLGILLFELLTGASPFTLEGERNTQAEVSRRILKCSPPFPPRIG PVAQDLLQRLLCKDPKKRLGAGPQGAQEVRNHPFFQGLDWVALAARKIPA PFRPQIRSELDVGNFAEEFTRLEPVYSPPGSPPPGDPRIFQGYSFVAPSI LFDHNNAVMTDGLEAPGAGDRPGRAAVARSAMMQDSPFFQQYELDLREPA LGQGSFSVCRRCRQRQSGQEFAVKILSRRLEANTQREVAALRLCQSHPNV VNLHEVHHDQLHTYLVLELLRGGELLEHIRKKRHFSESEASQILRSLVSA VSFMHEEAGVVHRDLKPENILYADDTPGAPVKIIDFGFARLRPQSPGVPM QTPCFTLQYAAPELLAQQGYDESCDLWSLGVILYMMLSGQVPFQGASGQG GQSQAAEIMCKIREGRFSLDGEAWQGVSEEAKELVRGLLTVDPAKRLKLE GLRGSSWLQDGSARSSPPLRTPDVLESSGPAVRSGLNATFMAFNRGKREG FFLKSVENAPL (SEQ ID NO:3) or

HASGDEDEDEGCAVELQITEANLTGHEEKVSVENFALLKVLGTGAYGKVF LVRKTGGHDAGKLYAMKVLRKAALVQRAKTQEHTRTERSVLELVRQAPFL VTLHYAFQTDAKLHLILDYVSGGEMFTHLYQRQYFKEAEVRVYGGEIVLA LEHLHKLGIIYRDLKLENVLLDSEGHIVLTDFGLSKEFLTEEKERTFSFC GTIEYMAPEIIRSKAGHGKAVDWWSLGILLFELLTGASPFTLEGERNTQA EVSRRILKCSPPFPLRIGPVAQDLLQRLLCKDPKKRLGAGPQGAQEVKSH PFFRVWTGWALAARKIPAPFRPQIRSELDVGNFAEEFTRLEPVYSPAGSP PPGDPRIFQGYSFVAPSILFDHNNAVMADVLQAPGAGYRPGRAAVARSAM MQDSPFFQQYELDLREPALGQGSFSVCRRCRQRQSGQEFAVKILSRRLEE NTQREVAALRLCQSHPNVVNLHEVLHDQLHTYLVLELLRGGELLEHIRKK RLFSESEASQTLRSLVSAVSFMHEEAGVVHRDLKPENILYADDTPGAPVK IIDFGFARLRPQSPAEPMQTPCFTLQYAAPELLAQQGYDESCDLWSLGVI LYMMLSGQVPFQGASGQGGQSQAAEIMCKIREGRFSLDGEAWQGVSEEAK ELVRGLLTVDPAKRLKLEGLRSSSWLQDGSARSSPPLRTPDVLESSGPAV RSGLNATFMAFNRGKREGFFLKSVENAPLAKRRKQKLRSA (SEQ ID NO:5) or naturally occurring allelic variants thereof.

A further particular embodiment of the invention provides a substantially pure full-length human MSK2 polypeptide which comprises the amino acid sequence

TEANLTGHEEKVSVENFELLKVLGTGAYGKVFLVRKAGGHDAGKLYAMKV LRKAALVQPAKTQEHTRTERSVLELVRQAPFLVTLHYAFQTDAKLHLILD YVSGGEMFTHLYQRQYFKEAEVRVYGGEIVLALEHLHKLGIIYRDLKLEN VLLDSEGHIVLTDFGLSKEFLTEEKERTFSFCGTIEYMAPEIIRSKTGHG KAVDWWSLGILLFELLTGASPFTLEGERNTQAEVSRRILKCSPPFPPRIG PVAQDLLQRLLCKDPKKRLGAGPQGAQEVRNHPFFQGLDWVALAARKIPA PFRPQIRSELDVGNFAEEFTRLEPVYSPPGSPPPGDPRIFQGYSFVAPSI LFDHNNAVMTDGLEAPGAGDRPGRAAVARSAMMQQYELDLREPALGQGSF SVCRRCRQRQSGQEFAVKILSRRLEANTQREVAALRLCQSHPNVVNLHEV HHDQLHTYLVLELLRGGELLEHIRKKRHFSESEASQILRSLVSAVSFMHE EAGVVHRDLKPENILYADDTPGAPVKIIDFGFARLRPQSPGVPMQTPCFT LQYAAPELLAQQGYDESCDLWSLGVILYMMLSGQVPFQGASGQGGQSQAA EIMCKIREGRFSLDGEAWQGVSEEAKELVRGLLTVDPAKRLKLEGLRGSS WLQDGSARSSPPLRTPDVLESSGPAVRSGLNATFMAFNRGKREGFFLKSV ENAPL (SEQ ID NO:2) or

TEANLTGHEEKVSVENFELLKVLGTGAYGKVFLVRKAGGHDAGKLYAMKV LRKAALVQRAKTQEHTRTERSVLELVRQAPFLVTLHYAFQTDAKLHLILD YVSGGEMFTHLYQRQYFKEAEVRVYGGEIVLALEHLHKLGIIYRDLKLEN VLLDSEGHIVLTDFGLSKEFLTEEKERTFSFCGTIEYMAPEIIRSKTGHG KAVDWWSLGILLFELLTGASPFTLEGERNTQAEVSRRILKCSPPFPPRIG PVAQDLLQRLLCKDPKKRLGAGPQGAQEVRNHPFFQGLDWVALAARKIPA PFRPQIRSELDVGNFAEEFTRLEPVYSPPGSPPPGDPRIFQGYSFVAPSI LFDHNNAVMTDGLEAPGAGDRPGRAAVARSAMMQDSPFFQQYELDLREPA LGQGSFSVCRRCRQRQSGQEFAVKILSRRLEANTQREVAALRLCQSNPNV VNLHEVHHDQLHTYLVLELLRGGELLEHIRKKRHFSESEASQILRSLVSA VSFMHEEAGVVHRDLKPENILYADDTPGAPVKIIDFGFARLRPQSPGVPM QTPCFTLQYAAPELLAQQGYDESCDLWSLGVILYMMLSGQVPFQGASGQG GQSQAAEIMCKIREGRFSLDGEAWQGVSEEAKELVRGLLTVDPAKRLKLE GLRGSSWLQDGSARSSPPLRTPDVLESSGPAVRSGLNATFMAFNRGKREG FFLKSVENAPL (SEQ ID NO:3) or naturally occurring allelic variants thereof. It will be appreciated that each of the above sequences is not the entire amino acid sequence of full-length human MSK2.

A further particular embodiment of the invention provides a substantially pure full-length mouse MSK2 polypeptide which comprises the amino acid sequence

HASGDEDEDEGCAVELQITEANLTGHEEKVSVENFALLKVLGTGAYGKVF LVRKTGGHDAGKLYAMKVLRKAALVQRAKTQEHTRTERSVLELVRQAPFL VTLHYAFQTDAKLHLILDYVSGGEMFTHLYQRQYFKEAEVRVYGGEIVLA LEHLHKLGIIYRDLKLENVLLDSEGHIVLTDFGLSKEFLTEEKERTFSFC GTIEYMAPEIIRSKAGHGKAVDWWSLGILLFELLTGASPFTLEGERNTQA EVSRRILKCSPPFPLRIGPVAQDLLQRLLCKDPKKRLGAGPQGAQEVKSH PFFRVWTGWALAARKIPAPFRPQIRSELDVGNFAEEFTRLEPVYSPAGSP PPGDPRIFQGYSFVAPSILFDHNNAVMADVLQAPGAGYRPGRAAVARSAN MQDSPFFQQYELDLREPALGQGSFSVCRRCRQRQSGQEFAVKILSRRLEE NTQREVAALRLCQSHPNVVNLHEVLHDQLHTYLVLELLRGGELLEHIRKK RLFSESEASQILRSLVSAVSFMHEEAGVVHRDLKPENILYADDTPGAPVK IIDFGFARLRPQSPAEPMQTPCFTLQYAAPELLAQQGYDESCDLWSLGVI LYMMLSGQVPFQGASGQGGQSQAAEIMCKIREGRFSLDGEAWQGVSEEAK ELVRGLLTVDPAKRLKLEGLRSSSWLQDGSARSSPPLRTPDVLESSGPAV RSGLNATFMAFNRGKREGFFLKSVENAPLAKRRKQKLRSA (SEQ ID NO:5) or naturally occurring allelic variants thereof. It will be appreciated that the above sequence is not the entire amino acid sequence of full-length mouse MSK2.

It is particularly preferred, although not essential, that the variant or fragment or derivative or fusion of the said polypeptide, or the fusion of the variant or fragment or derivative has at least 30% of the enzyme activity of MSK1 with respect to the phosphorylation of Crosstide (GRPRTSSFAEG; (SEQ ID NO:16)see Example 1), CREB or CREBtide (a synthetic peptide corresponding to the sequence surrounding Ser 133 (EILSRRPSYRK (SEQ ID NO:18); see Example 1) or (preferably) with respect to the phosphorylation of a GST-CREB fusion protein, for example that described in Example 1, or of MSK2 with respect to the phosphorylation of Crosstide, CREB, a GST-CREB fusion protein as referred to above or CREBtide as appropriate. It is more preferred if the variant or fragment or derivative or fusion of the said polypeptide, or the fusion of the variant or fragment or derivative has at least 50%, preferably at least 70% and more preferably at least 90% of the enzyme activity of MSK1 with respect to the phosphorylation of CREB or the alternatives described above, or MSK2 with respect to the phosphorylation of Crosstide or the alternatives described above, as appropriate. However, it will be appreciated that variants or fusions or derivatives or fragments which are devoid of enzymatic activity may nevertheless be useful, for example by interacting with another polypeptide, or as antigens in raising antibodies.

A further aspect of the invention provides a recombinant polynucleotide encoding a polypeptide as defined in the first aspect of the invention or encoding a variant or fragment or derivative of fusion of said polypeptide or a fusion of a said variant or fragment or derivative. Preferences and exclusions for the said polynucleotide variant are the same as in the first aspect of the invention, except that the following Expressed Sequence Tags (ESTs) are also excluded:

ESTs related to human MSK1: AA158572, AA158571, AA255846, AA699729, AA134359, AA314565, N31641, AA305163, WO4930, AA134358, AA322270, H09985, AA255996, R11235, N57096, T97538, T97584, H09986, R11183, HSC0JE081, AA472165, AA897221, AA389168, AA061016, AA444366.

ESTs related to human MSK2: AA568895, AA857431, H41647, AA443601, AA678670, H53714, AA627558, H46268, R17109, AA955129.

ESTs related to mouse MSK2: AA267490, AA444366, AA061016, AA389168, AA472165, AA657108.

All ESTs are identified by the Genbank accession number, as described in Example 1.

A further aspect of the invention provides a recombinant polynucleotide suitable for expressing a polypeptide as defined in the first aspect of the invention or suitable for expressing a variant or fragment or derivative of fusion of said polypeptide or a fusion of a said variant or fragment or derivative. Preferences and exclusions for the said polynucleotide variant are the same as in the first aspect of the invention.

By “suitable for expressing” is mean that the polynucleotide is a polynucleotide that may be translated to form the polypeptide, for example RNA, or that the polynucleotide (which is preferably DNA) encoding the polypeptide of the invention is inserted into an expression vector, such as a plasmid, in proper orientation and correct reading frame for expression. The polynucleotide may be linked to the appropriate transcriptional and translational regulatory control nucleotide sequences recognised by any desired host; such controls may be incorporated in the expression vector.

It is not considered that any of the ESTs listed above are polynucleotides as defined above; however, for the avoidance of doubt, the ESTs excluded above are further excluded from this aspect of the invention.

Thus a further aspect of the invention is a replicable vector suitable for expressing a polypeptide as defined in the first aspect of the invention or suitable for expressing a variant or fragment or derivative of fusion of said polypeptide or a fusion of a said variant or fragment or derivative. Preferences and exclusions for the said polynucleotide variant are the same as in the first aspect of the invention. For example, the replicable vector may be suitable for expressing a fusion of the polypeptide as defined in the first aspect of the invention, in particular a GST fusion, for example as described in Example 1.

A further aspect of the invention is a polynucleotide encoding a fusion of the polypeptide as defined in the first aspect of the invention, or a fusion of a variant or fragment or derivative, in particular a GST fusion. A still further aspect is a vector suitable for replication in a mammalian/eukaryotic cell, comprising a polynucleotide encoding the polypeptide, or a variant or fragment or derivative or a fusion of the polypeptide, as defined in the first aspect of the invention, or a fusion of a variant or fragment or derivative, in particular a GST fusion. The following ESTs clones may be vectors which may be suitable for replication in a mammalian/eukaryotic cell and are excluded from this aspect of the invention: AA389168; AA678670. It is not considered that any other of the ESTs excluded from other aspects of the invention are vectors as defined above; however, it will be appreciated that any other of the ESTs clones that may be such a vector are also excluded.

Characteristics of vectors suitable for replication in mammalian/eukaryotic cells are well known to those skilled in the art, and examples are given below. It will be appreciated that a vector may be suitable for replication in both prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells.

In one preferred embodiment the polynucleotide comprises the nucleotide sequence (SEQ ID NO:6)

CGAGCCGTGCGGCCAGAGCGGGAAAGAGACTCGTCTTTGCGTCCGAGTTC TGGAGCCGCCGCACCCCGACTCCTGGGGCCGCGGCAGCGGCTGCGAGGGG ACGGGCGTCCGCTGTCTCCTGGGTTCCCCTCGTAGCGACCCGCGGGATCG GAAAAAAAGGAGAAGATGGAGGAGGAGGGTGGCAGCAGCGGCGGCGCCGC GGGGACCAGCGCGGACGGCGGCGACGGAGGAGAGCAGCTCCTCACTGTCA AGCACGAGCTGCGGACTGCTAATTTGACAGGACATGCTGAGAAGGTGGGA ATAGAAAATTTTGAGCTCCTGAAGGTCCTAGGAACTGGAGCTTATGGAAA AGTATTTCTAGTTCGTAAAATAAGTGGCCATGATACTGGAAAGCTGTATG CCATGAAAGTTTTGAAAAAGGCAACAATCGTTCAAAAGGCCAAAACCACA GAGCATACAAGGACAGAACGACAAGTCCTGGAACACATTAGGCAGTCGCC ATTTTTGGTAACATTACATTATGCTTTCCAGACAGAAACCAAACTTCATC TCATTTTAGATTATATAAATGGTGGTGAACTTTTTACTCATCTTTCTCAA AGAGAGCGTTTCACAGAGCATGAGGTGCAGATTTATGTTGGAGAGATTGT GCTTGCCCTCGAACATCTCCACAAGTTGGGGATTATATATCGTGATATTA AGCTTGAGAATATTCTACTTGATTCTAATGGCCATGTGGTGCTGACAGAT TTTGGTCTGAGTAAGGAGTTTGTGGCTGATGAAACTGAAAGAGCATATTC CTTTTGTGGAACTATTGAATACATGGCACCAGATATTGTCAGAGGGGGAG ATTCAGGACATGACAAGGCAGTTGACTGGTGGAGTTTGGGTGTTCTAATG TATGAATTACTAACTGGAGCATCTCCTTTCACTGTTGATGGAGAAAAAAA TTCCCAAGCTGAGATATCTAGGAGAATATTAAAAAGTGAGCCTCCATATC CCCAAGAAATGAGTGCTTTAGCGAAAGACCTAATTCAGCGTCTTTTGATG AAAGATCCCAAGAAGAGATTGGGATGTGGTCCACGTGATGCAGATGAAAT CAAAGAACATCTCTTCTTTCAGAAAATAAATTGGGATGATTTAGCCGCCA AAAAAGTGCCTGCACCATTTAAGCCAGTCATTCGAGATGAATTAGATGTG AGTAACTTTGCAGAAGAGTTCACAGAAATGGATCCCACTTATTCTCCCGC AGCCCTGCCCCAGAGTTCTGAGAAGCTGTTTCAGGGCTATTCCTTTGTTG CTCCTTCCATCCTATTCAAGCGTAATGCAGCTGTCATAGACCCTCTTCAG TTTCACATGGGAGTTGAACGTCCTGGAGTGACAAATGTTGCCAGGAGTGC AATGATGAAGGACTCTCCATTCTATCAACACTATGACCTAGATTTGAAGG ACAAACCCCTGGGAGAAGGTAGTTTTTCAATTTGTCGAAAGTGTGTGCAT AAAAAAAGTAACCAAGCTTTTGCAGTCAAAATAATCAGCAAAAGGATGGA AGCCAATACTCAAAAGGAAATAACAGCTCTGAAACTCTGTGAAGGACACC CCAATATTGTGAAGTTGCATGAAGTTTTTCATGATCAGCTTCACACGTTT CTAGTGATGGAACTTCTGAATGGAGGAGAACTGTTTGAGCGCATTAAGAA AAAGAAGCACTTCAGTGAGACGGAAGCCAGCTACATCATGAGGAAGCTTG TTTCAGCTGTAAGCCACATGCATGATGTTGGAGTGGTGCACAGGGATCTG AAACCTGAGAATTTATTGTTCACCGATGAAAATGACAATTTGGAAATTAA AATAATTGATTTTGGATTTGCACGGCTAAAGCCACCGGATAATCAGCCCC TGAAGACTCCATGCTTCACCCTTCATTATGCCGCCCCAGAGCTCTTGAAT CAGAACGGCTACGATGAGTCCTGTGACCTGTGGAGCTTGGGCGTCATTTT GTACACAATGTTGTCAGGACAGGTTCCCTTCCAATCTCATGACCGAAGTT TGACGTGTACCAGCGCGGTGGAAATCATGAAGAAAATTAAAAAGGGAGAT TTCTCCTTTGAAGGAGAAGCCTGGAAGAATGTATCCCAAGAGGCTAAAGA TTTGATCCAAGGACTTCTCACAGTAGATCCAAACAAAAGGCTTAAAATGT CTGGCTTGAGGTACAATGAATGGCTACAAGATGGAAGTCAGCTGTCCTCC AATCCTCTGATGACTCCGGATATTCTAGGATCTTCCGGAGCTGCCGTGCA TACCTGTGTGAAAGCAACCTTCCACGCCTTTAACAAATACAAGAGAGAGG GGTTTTGCCTTCAGAATGTTGATAAGGCCCCTTTGGCTAAGAGAAGAAAA ATGAAAAAGACTAGCACCAGTACCGAGACGCGCAGCAGTTCCAGTGAGAG TTCCCATTCTTCTTCCTCTCATTCTCACGGTAAAACTACACCCACCAAGA CACTGCAGCCCAGCAATCCTGCCGACAGCAATAACCCGGAGACCCTCTTC CAGTTCTCGGACTCAGTAGCTTAGGCATGGTAGGAGTGTATCAGTGATCC ATTGCACCTTTATTCCCTCAGCATATGCCTGAGGCGATCTTTTATGCTTT TAAAAATGTTTCCCGTTGGTCTCATTGGAATCTGCCTCCTAATGATTTTT TTTCAGGAAAACCTGTTTGGTTATCCTCATTCAAAAGCACTGGACAGAGA ATGTTACTGTGAATAGAGCACATATTACTCTTTTTAGCAACCTAGCATGA TGCCAACAAGACTATTTTTGAAAGAGCAAAGGTTCCTGTAAATTTAATTA GGGCTAGATTTGAGCTGCTTGTAAGTCACAGGTTTTCCAGATGTCTGCCA ACAAGAAATGACTCATACTGTGATGATACCTTTTGCTTTGCCTTGTGGAC AATGTGGGTTTTTGAAATTTGCACCCTTCAAACAATGATTTATCAGAGAA AGGGGTCTGTTTTCAAAAAAGATTCTGTAATGAATTTTATGTGTGGCATA TACTTATTTCTTGAGAGAAGATTTTAACTTATTGTTTTTATTTTATGGTT ACATATGATGATAACCTGCTATTATTAAACT or a variant, fragment, fusion or derivative thereof. The nucleotide sequence encoding MSK1 is shown in FIG. 1 together with the translation of the relevant open reading frame.

In another preferred embodiment the polynucleotide comprises the nucleotide sequence (SEQ ID NO:11)

ACCGAAGCCAACCTGACCGGGCACGAGGAGAAGGTGAGCGTGGAGAACTT CGAGCTGCTCAAGGTGCTGGGCACGGGAGCCTACGGCAAGGTGTTCCTGG TGCGGAAGGCGGGCGGGCACGACGCGGGGAAGCTGTACGCCATGAAGGTG CTGCGCAAGGCGGCGCTGGTGCAGCGCGCCAAGACGCAAGAGCACACGCG CACCGAGCGCTCGGTGCTGGAGCTGGTGCGCCAGGCGCCCTTCCTGGTCA CGCTGCACTACGCTTTCCAGACGGATGCCAAGCTGCACCTCATCCTGGAC TATGTGAGCGGCGGGGAGATGTTCACCCACCTCTACCAGCGCCAGTACTT CAAGGAGGCTGAGGTGCGCGTGTATGGGGGTGAGATCGTGCTGGCCCTGG AACACCTGCACAAGCTCGGCATCATTTACCGAGACCTGAAACTGGAGAAT GTGCTGCTGGACTCCGAGGGCCACATTGTCCTCACGGACTTCGGGCTGAG CAAGGAGTTCCTGACGGAGGAGAAAGAGCGGACCTTCTCCTTCTGTGGCA CCATCGAGTACATGGCCCCCGAAATCATCCGTAGCAAGACGGGGCATGGC AAGGCTGTGGACTGGTGGAGCCTGGGCATCTTGCTCTTCGAGCTGCTGAC GGGGGCCTCGCCCTTCACCCTGGAGGGCGAGAGGAACACGCAGGCTGAGG TGTCTCGACGGATCCTGAAGTGCTCCCCTCCCTTCCCCCCTCGGATCGGG CCCGTGGCGCAGGACCTGCTGCAGCGGCTGCTTTGTAAGGATCCTAAGAA GCGATTGGGCGCGGGGCCCCAGGGGGCACAAGAAGTCCGGAACCATCCCT TCTTCCAGGGCCTCGATTGGGTGGCTCTGGCTGCCAGGAAGATTCCAGCC CCATTCCGGCCCCAAATCCGCTCAGAGCTGGATGTGGGCAACTTTGCGGA GGAATTCACTCGGCTGGAGCCTGTCTACTCACCCCCTGGCAGCCCCCCAC CTGGGGACCCCCGAATCTTTCAGGGATACTCCTTTGTGGCACCCTCCATT CTCTTTGACCACAACAACGCGGTGATGACCGATGGGCTGGAAGCGCCTGG TGCTGGAGACCGGCCAGGTCGGGCAGCGGTGGCCAGGAGCGCTATGATGC AGCAGTACGAGCTGGACCTGCGGGAGCCTGCGCTGGGCCAGGGCAGCTTT TCTGTGTGTCGCCGCTGCCGCCAGCGCCAGAGCGGCCAGGAGTTCGCAGT CAAGATCCTCAGTCGCAGGCTGGAGGCGAACACGCAGCGCGAAGTGGCTG CCCTGCGCCTGTGCCAGTCACACCCCAACGTGGTGAATCTGCACGAGGTG CATCACGACCAGCTGCACACGTACCTGGTCCTGGAGCTGCTGCGGGGCGG GGAGCTGCTGGAGCACATCCGCAAGAAGCGGCACTTCAGCGAGTCGGAAG CAAGCCAGATCCTGCGCAGCCTCGTGTCGGCCGTGAGCTTCATGCACGAG GAGGCGGGCGTGGTGCACCGCGACCTCAAGCCGGAGAACATCCTGTACGC CGACGACACGCCCGGGGCCCCGGTGAAAATCATCGACTTCGGGTTCGCGC GGTTGCGGCCGCAGAGTCCCGGGGTGCCCATGCAGACGCCCTGCTTCACG CTGCAGTACGCTGCCCCCGAGCTGCTGGCGCAGCAGGGCTACGACGAGTC CTGCGACCTCTGGAGCCTGGGCGTCATTCTGTACATGATGCTGTCGGGGC AGGTCCCCTTCCAGGGGGCCTCTGGCCAGGGCGGGCAGAGCCAGGCGGCC GAGATCATGTGCAAAATCCGCGAGGGGCGCTTCTCCCTTGACGGGGAGGC CTGGCAGGGTGTATCCGAGGAAGCCAAGGAGCTGGTCCGAGGGCTCCTGA CCGTGGACCCCGCCAAGCGGCTGAAGCTCGAGGGACTGCGGGGCAGCTCG TGGCTGCAGGACGGCAGCGCGCGCTCCTCGCCCCCGCTCCGGACGCCCGA CGTGCTCGAGTCCTCTGGGCCCGCAGTGCGCTCGGGTCTCAACGCCACCT TCATGGCATTCAACCGGGGCAAGCGGGAGGGCTTCTTCCTGAAGAGCGTG GAGAATGCACCCCTCA or (SEQ ID NO:8)

ACCGAAGCCAACCTGACCGGGCACGAGGAGAAGGTGAGCGTGGAGAACTT CGAGCTGCTCAAGGTGCTGGGCACGGGAGCCTACGGCAAGGTGTTCCTGG TGCGGAAGGCGGGCGGGCACGACGCGGGGAAGCTGTACGCCATGAAGGTG CTGCGCAAGGCGGCGCTGGTGCAGCGCGCCAAGACGCAAGAGCACACGCG CACCGAGCGCTCGGTGCTGGAGCTGGTGCGCCAGGCGCCCTTCCTGGTCA CGCTGCACTACGCTTTCCAGACGGATGCCAAGCTGCACCTCATCCTGGAC TATGTGAGCGGCGGGGAGATGTTCACCCACCTCTACCAGCGCCAGTACTT CAAGGAGGCTGAGGTGCGCGTGTATGGGGGTGAGATCGTGCTGGCCCTGG AACACCTGCACAAGCTCGGCATCATTTACCGAGACCTGAAACTGGAGAAT GTGCTGCTGGACTCCGAGGGCCACATTGTCCTCACGGACTTCGGGCTGAG CAAGGAGTTCCTGACGGAGGAGAAAGAGCGGACCTTCTCCTTCTGTGGCA CCATCGAGTACATGGCCCCCGAAATCATCCGTAGCAAGACGGGGCATGGC AAGGCTGTGGACTGGTGGAGCCTGGGCATCTTGCTCTTCGAGCTGCTGAC GGGGGCCTCGCCCTTCACCCTGGAGGGCGAGAGGAACACGCAGGCTGAGG TGTCTCGACGGATCCTGAAGTGCTCCCCTCCCTTCCCCCCTCGGATCGGG CCCGTGGCGCAGGACCTGCTGCAGCGGCTGCTTTGTAAGGATCCTAAGAA GCGATTGGGCGCGGGGCCCCAGGGGGCACAAGAAGTCCGGAACCATCCCT TCTTCCAGGGCCTCGATTGGGTGGCTCTGGCTGCCAGGAAGATTCCAGCC CCATTCCGGCCCCAAATCCGCTCAGAGCTGGATGTGGGCAACTTTGCGGA GGAATTCACTCGGCTGGAGCCTGTCTACTCACCCCCTGGCAGCCCCCCAC CTGGGGACCCCCGAATCTTTCAGGGATACTCCTTTGTGGCACCCTCCATT CTCTTTGACCACAACAACGCGGTGATGACCGATGGGCTGGAAGCGCCTGG TGCTGGAGACCGGCCAGGTCGGGCAGCGGTGGCCAGGAGCGCTATGATGC AGGACTCGCCCTTCTTCCAGCAGTACGAGCTGGACCTGCGGGAGCCTGCG CTGGGCCAGGGCAGCTTTTCTGTGTGTCGCCGCTGCCGCCAGCGCCAGAG CGGCCAGGAGTTCGCAGTCAAGATCCTCAGTCGCAGGCTGGAGGCGAACA CGCAGCGCGAAGTGGCTGCCCTGCGCCTGTGCCAGTCACACCCCAACGTG GTGAATCTGCACGAGGTGCATCACGACCAGCTGCACACGTACCTGGTCCT GGAGCTGCTGCGGGGCGGGGAGCTGCTGGAGCACATCCGCAAGAAGCGGC ACTTCAGCGAGTCGGAAGCAAGCCAGATCCTGCGCAGCCTCGTGTCGGCC GTGAGCTTCATGCACGAGGAGGCGGGCGTGGTGCACCGCGACCTCAAGCC GGAGAACATCCTGTACGCCGACGACACGCCCGGGGCCCCGGTGAAAATCA TCGACTTCGGGTTCGCGCGGTTGCGGCCGCAGAGTCCCGGGGTGCCCATG CAGACGCCCTGCTTCACGCTGCAGTACGCTGCCCCCGAGCTGCTGGCGCA GCAGGGCTACGACGAGTCCTGCGACCTCTGGAGCCTGGGCGTCATTCTGT ACATGATGCTGTCGGGGCAGGTCCCCTTCCAGGGGGCCTCTGGCCAGGGC GGGCAGAGCCAGGCGGCCGAGATCATGTGCAAAATCCGCGAGGGGCGCTT CTCCCTTGACGGGGAGGCCTGGCAGGGTGTATCCGAGGAAGCCAAGGAGC TGGTCCGAGGGCTCCTGACCGTGGACCCCGCCAAGCGGCTGAAGCTCGAG GGACTGCGGGGCAGCTCGTGGCTGCAGGACGGCAGCGCGCGCTCCTCGCC CCCGCTCCGGACGCCCGACGTGCTCGAGTCCTCTGGGCCCGCAGTGCGCT CGGGTCTCAACGCCACCTTCATGGCATTCAACCGGGGCAAGCGGGAGGGC TTCTTCCTGAAGAGCGTGGAGAATGCACCCCTCA or (SEQ ID NO:9)

CACGCGTCCGGAGACGAGGATGAGGACGAGGGCTGCGCCGTGGAGCTGCA GATCACCGAAGCCAACCTCACCGGGCATGAGGAGAAGGTGAGCGTGGAGA ACTTCGCGCTGCTCAAGGTGCTGGGCACGGGAGCCTATGGGAAGGTGTTC CTGGTGCGGAAGACGGGTGGGCACGACGCGGGCAAGCTCTATGCCATGAA GGTGCTACGCAAGGCGGCGTTGGTGCAGCGCGCGAAGACACAGGAGCATA CCCGCACCGAACGCTCGGTGCTGGAGCTGGTTCGCCAAGCACCCTTCCTG GTCACACTGCACTACGCCTTCCAGACGGATGCCAAGCTGCACCTCATCCT GGACTACGTGAGCGGTGGTGAGATGTTCACTCACCTCTACCAGCGCCAGT ACTTCAAGGAGGCTGAGGTTCGAGTGTATGGGGGCGAGATTGTGCTGGCC CTGGAACACCTGCACAAGCTGGGTATCATCTACCGGGACCTGAAGCTGGA GAACGTCTTACTTGACTCAGAAGGTCACATCGTCCTTACAGACTTTGGGC TGAGCAAGGAGTTCCTGACGGAGGAGAAAGAGCGGACCTTCTCCTTCTGT GGCACAATCGAGTACATGGCTCCCGAAATCATCCGAAGCAAGGCTGGACA TGGCAAGGCTGTGGACTGGTGGAGCCTGGGTATCCTGCTCTTCGAGCTGC TGACAGGGGCCTCACCCTTCACACTGGAGGGAGAGAGGAACACTCAGGCT GAGGTGTCCCGACGGATCTTGAAGTGCTCCCCTCCCTTCCCTCTCCGGAT TGGGCCTGTGGCACAGGACCTGCTACAGCGGCTGCTGTGCAAGGACCCTA AGAAGAGGTTGGGCGCAGGTCCCCAGGGTGCGCAGGAAGTCAAGAGTCAC CCCTTCTTCAGGGTCTGGACTGGGTGGGCTCTGGCTGCCAGAAAGATCCC AGCCCCATTCCGGCCCCAGATCCGCTCAGAGCTGGATGTGGGGAATTTTG CGGAGGAATTCACCCGGCTGGAGCCCGTCTACTCCCCTGCAGGCAGCCCT CCACCTGGGGACCCTCGGATCTTTCAGGGATACTCCTTCGTGGCTCCGTC CATCCTCTTTGACCACAACAATGCAGTGATGGCTGATGTACTGCAGGCAC CGGGTGCCGGATACAGGCCCGGCAGGGCAGCAGTTGCCAGGAGTGCCATG ATGCAGGACTCGCCTTTCTTCCAGCAGTACGAACTGGACCTTCGGGAGCC AGCGCTGGGGCAGGGCAGCTTCTCTGTGTGTCGGAGATGTAGGCAGCGCC AGAGCGGCCAGGAGTTTGCTGTCAAGATCCTCAGCCGCAGGCTGGAGGAG AACACTCAGCGAGAGGTGGCTGCTCTTCGCCTGTGCCAGTCACACCCCAA CGTGGTGAATCTGCATGAGGTGCTTCATGACCAGCTACACACTTACCTGG TCCTGGAGTTGCTGCGAGGCGGAGAGCTATTGGAACACATCCGCAAGAAG CGGCTCTTCAGCGAGTCGGAGGCCAGCCAGATCCTTCGGAGCCTGGTTTC GGCCGTGAGCTTCATGCACGAGGAGGCAGGCGTGGTGCACCGCGACCTGA AACCCGAGAACATCTTGTACGCGGACGACACTCCCGGGGCCCCGGTGAAG ATCATCGACTTCGGGTTCGCGCGACTGCGGCCCCAGAGCCCGGCAGAGCC CATGCAGACTCCTTGCTTCACACTGCAGTACGCTGCACCCGAGCTGCTGG CACAGCAGGGCTACGATGAGTCCTGCGATCTATGGAGCCTGGGTGTCATT CTGTACATGATGCTGTCTGGCCAGGTTCCCTTCCAAGGGGCCTCCGGCCA GGGTGGACAGAGTCAGGCAGCTGAGATCATGTGCAAGATCCGTGAAGGGC GCTTCTCCCTGGACGGGGAAGCCTGGCAAGGTGTGTCGGAGGAAGCCAAG GAGCTGGTCCGAGGGCTACTGACAGTCGACCCCGCCAAGCGGCTGAAGCT GGAGGGGCTGCGTAGCAGCTCGTGGCTTCAGGACGGCAGCGCGCGCTCCT CGCCCCCGCTCCGCACGCCGGATGTGCTGGAGTCCTCTGGGCCAGCTGTG CGTTCCGGGCTCAATGCCACTTTCATGGCGTTCAACCGAGGCAAGCGCGA GGGCTTCTTTCTCAAGAGTGTAGAGAATGCGCCTCTGGCCAAGAGGCGCA AGCAGAAGCTCCGGAGCGCGGC or a variant, fragment, fusion or derivative thereof.

The above polynucleotides encode partial human (two splice variants) or mouse MSK2 respectively. It will be appreciated that sequences encoding full length mouse or human MSK2 may be obtained by routine use of methods well known to those skilled in the art, making use of the sequences shown above. Thus PCR methods may be used, particularly methods developed to generate 5′ cDNA sequences (for example, the “RACE” method, as well known to those skilled in the art).

In a preferred embodiment, the polynucleotide comprises the sequence (SEQ ID NO:10)

CGAGCCGTGCGGCCAGAGCGGGAAAGAGACTCGTCTTTGCGTCCGAGTTC TGGAGCCGCCGCACCCCGACTCCTGGGGCCGCGGCAGCGGCTGCGAGGGG ACGGGCGTCCGCTGTCTCCTGGGTTCCCCTCGTAGCGACCCGCGGGATCG GAAAAAAAGGAGAAGATGGAGGAGGAGGGTGGCAGCAGCGGCGGCGCCGC GGGGACCAGCGCGGACGGCGGCGACGGAGGAGAGCAGCTCCTCACTGTCA AGCACGAGCTGCGGACTGCTAATTTGACAGGACATGCTGAGAAGGTGGGA ATAGAAAATTTTGAGCTCCTGAAGGTCCTAGGAACTGGAGCTTATGGAAA AGTATTTCTAGTTCGTAAAATAAGTGGCCATGATACTGGAAAGCTGTATG CCATGAAAGTTTTGAAAAAGGCAACAATCGTTCAAAAGGCCAAAACCACA GAGCATACAAGGACAGAACGACAAGTCCTGGAACACATTAGGCAGTCGCC ATTTTTGGTAACATTACATTATGCTTTCCAGACAGAAACCAAACTTCATC TCATTTTAGATTATATAAATGGTGGTGAACTTTTTACTCATCTTTCTCAA AGAGAGCGTTTCACAGAGCATGAGGTGCAGATTTATGTTGGAGAGATTGT GCTTGCCCTCGAACATCTCCACAAGTTGGGGATTATATATCGTGATATTA AGCTTGAGAATATTCTACTTGATTCTAATGGCCATGTGGTGCTGACAGAT TTTGGTCTGAGTAAGGAGTTTGTGGCTGATGAAACTGAAAGAGCATATTC CTTTTGTGGAACTATTGAATACATGGCACCAGATATTGTCAGAGGGGGAG ATTCAGGACATGACAAGGCAGTTGACTGGTGGAGTTTGGGTGTTCTAATG TATGAATTACTAACTGGAGCATCTCCTTTCACTGTTGATGGAGAAAAAAA TTCCCAAGCTGAGATATCTAGGAGAATATTAAAAAGTGAGCCTCCATATC CCCAAGAAATGAGTGCTTTAGCGAAAGACCTAATTCAGCGTCTTTTGATG AAAGATCCCAAGAAGAGATTGGGATGTGGTCCACGTGATGCAGATGAAAT CAAAGAACATCTCTTCTTTCAGAAAATAAATTGGGATGATTTAGCCGCCA AAAAAGTGCCTGCACCATTTAAGCCAGTCATTCGAGATGAATTAGATGTG AGTAACTTTGCAGAAGAGTTCACAGAAATGGATCCCACTTATTCTCCCGC AGCCCTGCCCCAGAGTTCTGAGAAGCTGTTTCAGGGCTATTCCTTTGTTG CTCCTTCCATCCTATTCAAGCGTAATGCAGCTGTCATAGACCCTCTTCAG TTTCACATGGGAGTTGAACGTCCTGGAGTGACAAATGTTGCCAGGAGTGC AATGATGAAGGACTCTCCATTCTATCAACACTATGACCTAGATTTGAAGG ACAAACCCCTGGGAGAAGGTAGTTTTTCAATTTGTCGAAAGTGTGTGCAT AAAAAAAGTAACCAAGCTTTTGCAGTCAAAATAATCAGCAAAAGGATGGA AGCCAATACTCAAAAGGAAATAACAGCTCTGAAACTCTGTGAAGGACACC CCAATATTGTGAAGTTGCATGAAGTTTTTCATGATCAGCTTCACACGTTT CTAGTGATGGAACTTCTGAATGGAGGAGAACTGTTTGAGCGCATTAAGAA AAAGAAGCACTTCAGTGAGACGGAAGCCAGCTACATCATGAGGAAGCTTG TTTCAGCTGTAAGCCACATGCATGATGTTGGAGTGGTGCACAGGGATCTG AAACCTGAGAATTTATTGTTCACCGATGAAAATGACAATTTGGAAATTAA AATAATTGATTTTGGATTTGCACGGCTAAAGCCACCGGATAATCAGCCCC TGAAGACTCCATGCTTCACCCTTCATTATGCCGCCCCAGAGCTCTTGAAT CAGAACGGCTACGATGAGTCCTGTGACCTGTGGAGCTTGGGCGTCATTTT GTACACAATGTTGTCAGGACAGGTTCCCTTCCAATCTCATGACCGAAGTT TGACGTGTACCAGCGCGGTGGAAATCATGAAGAAAATTAAAAAGGGAGAT TTCTCCTTTGAAGGAGAAGCCTGGAAGAATGTATCCCAAGAGGCTAAAGA TTTGATCCAAGGACTTCTCACAGTAGATCCAAACAAAAGGCTTAAAATGT CTGGCTTGAGGTACAATGAATGGCTACAAGATGGAAGTCAGCTGTCCTCC AATCCTCTGATGACTCCGGATATTCTAGGATCTTCCGGAGCTGCCGTGCA TACCTGTGTGAAAGCAACCTTCCACGCCTTTAACAAATACAAGAGAGAGG GGTTTTGCCTTCAGAATGTTGATAAGGCCCCTTTGGCTAAGAGAAGAAAA ATGAAAAAGACTAGCACCAGTACCGAGACGCGCAGCAGTTCCAGTGAGAG TTCCCATTCTTCTTCCTCTCATTCTCACGGTAAAACTACACCCACCAAGA CACTGCAGCCCAGCAATCCTGCCGACAGCAATAACCCGGAGACCCTCTTC CAGTTCTCGGACTCAGTAGCTTAGGCATGGTAGGAGTGTATCAGTGATCC ATTGCACCTTTATTCCCTCAGCATATGCCTGAGGCGATCTTTTATGCTTT TAAAAATGTTTCCCGTTGGTCTCATTGGAATCTGCCTCCTAATGATTTTT TTTCAGGAAAACCTGTTTGGTTATCCTCATTCAAAAGCACTGGACAGAGA ATGTTACTGTGAATAGAGCACATATTACTCTTTTTAGCAACCTAGCATGA TGCCAACAAGACTATTTTTGAAAGAGCAAAGGTTCCTGTAAATTTAATTA GGGCTAGATTTGAGCTGCTTGTAAGTCACAGGTTTTCCAGATGTCTGCCA ACAAGAAATGACTCATACTGTGATGATACCTTTTGCTTTGCCTTGTGGAC AATGTGGGTTTTTGAAATTTGCACCCTTCAAACAATGATTTATCAGAGAA AGGGGTCTGTTTTCAAAAAAGATTCTGTAATGAATTTTATGTGTGGCATA TACTTATTTCTTGAGAGAAGATTTTAACTTATTGTTTTTATTTTATGGTT ACATATGATGATAACCTGCTATTATTAAACT or a variant, fragment, fusion or derivative thereof. The nucleotide sequence encoding MSK1 is shown in FIG. 1 together with the translation of the relevant open reading frame.

In another preferred embodiment the polynucleotide comprises the nucleotide sequence (SEQ ID NO:11)

ACCGAAGCCAACCTGACCGGGCACGAGGAGAAGGTGAGCGTGGAGAACTT CGAGCTGCTCAAGGTGCTGGGCACGGGAGCCTACGGCAAGGTGTTCCTGG TGCGGAAGGCGGGCGGGCACGACGCGGGGAAGCTGTACGCCATGAAGGTG CTGCGCAAGGCGGCGCTGGTGCAGCGCGCCAAGACGCAAGAGCACACGCG CACCGAGCGCTCGGTGCTGGAGCTGGTGCGCCAGGCGCCCTTCCTGGTCA CGCTGCACTACGCTTTCCAGACGGATGCCAAGCTGCACCTCATCCTGGAC TATGTGAGCGGCGGGGAGATGTTCACCCACCTCTACCAGCGCCAGTACTT CAAGGAGGCTGAGGTGCGCGTGTATGGGGGTGAGATCGTGCTGGCCCTGG AACACCTGCACAAGCTCGGCATCATTTACCGAGACCTGAAACTGGAGAAT GTGCTGCTGGACTCCGAGGGCCACATTGTCCTCACGGACTTCGGGCTGAG CAAGGAGTTCCTGACGGAGGAGAAAGAGCGGACCTTCTCCTTCTGTGGCA CCATCGAGTACATGGCCCCCGAAATCATCCGTAGCAAGACGGGGCATGGC AAGGCTGTGGACTGGTGGAGCCTGGGCATCTTGCTCTTCGAGCTGCTGAC GGGGGCCTCGCCCTTCACCCTGGAGGGCGAGAGGAACACGCAGGCTGAGG TGTCTCGACGGATCCTGAAGTGCTCCCCTCCCTTCCCCCCTCGGATCGGG CCCGTGGCGCAGGACCTGCTGCAGCGGCTGCTTTGTAAGGATCCTAAGAA GCGATTGGGCGCGGGGCCCCAGGGGGCACAAGAAGTCCGGAACCATCCCT TCTTCCAGGGCCTCGATTGGGTGGCTCTGGCTGCCAGGAAGATTCCAGCC CCATTCCGGCCCCAAATCCGCTCAGAGCTGGATGTGGGCAACTTTGCGGA GGAATTCACTCGGCTGGAGCCTGTCTACTCACCCCCTGGCAGCCCCCCAC CTGGGGACCCCCGAATCTTTCAGGGATACTCCTTTGTGGCACCCTCCATT CTCTTTGACCACAACAACGCGGTGATGACCGATGGGCTGGAAGCGCCTGG TGCTGGAGACCGGCCAGGTCGGGCAGCGGTGGCCAGGAGCGCTATGATGC AGCAGTACGAGCTGGACCTGCGGGAGCCTGCGCTGGGCCAGGGCAGCTTT TCTGTGTGTCGCCGCTGCCGCCAGCGCCAGAGCGGCCAGGAGTTCGCAGT CAAGATCCTCAGTCGCAGGCTGGAGGCGAACACGCAGCGCGAAGTGGCTG CCCTGCGCCTGTGCCAGTCACACCCCAACGTGGTGAATCTGCACGAGGTG CATCACGACCAGCTGCACACGTACCTGGTCCTGGAGCTGCTGCGGGGCGG GGAGCTGCTGGAGCACATCCGCAAGAAGCGGCACTTCAGCGAGTCGGAAG CAAGCCAGATCCTGCGCAGCCTCGTGTCGGCCGTGAGCTTCATGCACGAG GAGGCGGGCGTGGTGCACCGCGACCTCAAGCCGGAGAACATCCTGTACGC CGACGACACGCCCGGGGCCCCGGTGAAAATCATCGACTTCGGGTTCGCGC GGTTGCGGCCGCAGAGTCCCGGGGTGCCCATGCAGACGCCCTGCTTCACG CTGCAGTACGCTGCCCCCGAGCTGCTGGCGCAGCAGGGCTACGACGAGTC CTGCGACCTCTGGAGCCTGGGCGTCATTCTGTACATGATGCTGTCGGGGC AGGTCCCCTTCCAGGGGGCCTCTGGCCAGGGCGGGCAGAGCCAGGCGGCC GAGATCATGTGCAAAATCCGCGAGGGGCGCTTCTCCCTTGACGGGGAGGC CTGGCAGGGTGTATCCGAGGAAGCCAAGGAGCTGGTCCGAGGGCTCCTGA CCGTGGACCCCGCCAAGCGGCTGAAGCTCGAGGGACTGCGGGGCAGCTCG TGGCTGCAGGACGGCAGCGCGCGCTCCTCGCCCCCGCTCCGGACGCCCGA CGTGCTCGAGTCCTCTGGGCCCGCAGTGCGCTCGGGTCTCAACGCCACCT TCATGGCATTCAACCGGGGCAAGCGGGAGGGCTTCTTCCTGAAGAGCGTG GAGAATGCACCCCTCA or (SEQ ID NO:12)

ACCGAAGCCAACCTGACCGGGCACGAGGAGAAGGTGAGCGTGGAGAACTT CGAGCTGCTCAAGGTGCTGGGCACGGGAGCCTACGGCAAGGTGTTCCTGG TGCGGAAGGCGGGCGGGCACGACGCGGGGAAGCTGTACGCCATGAAGGTG CTGCGCAAGGCGGCGCTGGTGCAGCGCGCCAAGACGCAAGAGCACACGCG CACCGAGCGCTCGGTGCTGGAGCTGGTGCGCCAGGCGCCCTTCCTGGTCA CGCTGCACTACGCTTTCCAGACGGATGCCAAGCTGCACCTCATCCTGGAC TATGTGAGCGGCGGGGAGATGTTCACCCACCTCTACCAGCGCCAGTACTT CAAGGAGGCTGAGGTGCGCGTGTATGGGGGTGAGATCGTGCTGGCCCTGG AACACCTGCACAAGCTCGGCATCATTTACCGAGACCTGAAACTGGAGAAT GTGCTGCTGGACTCCGAGGGCCACATTGTCCTCACGGACTTCGGGCTGAG CAAGGAGTTCCTGACGGAGGAGAAAGAGCGGACCTTCTCCTTCTGTGGCA CCATCGAGTACATGGCCCCCGAAATCATCCGTAGCAAGACGGGGCATGGC AAGGCTGTGGACTGGTGGAGCCTGGGCATCTTGCTCTTCGAGCTGCTGAC GGGGGCCTCGCCCTTCACCCTGGAGGGCGAGAGGAACACGCAGGCTGAGG TGTCTCGACGGATCCTGAAGTGCTCCCCTCCCTTCCCCCCTCGGATCGGG CCCGTGGCGCAGGACCTGCTGCAGCGGCTGCTTTGTAAGGATCCTAAGAA GCGATTGGGCGCGGGGCCCCAGGGGGCACAAGAAGTCCGGAACCATCCCT TCTTCCAGGGCCTCGATTGGGTGGCTCTGGCTGCCAGGAAGATTCCAGCC CCATTCCGGCCCCAAATCCGCTCAGAGCTGGATGTGGGCAACTTTGCGGA GGAATTCACTCGGCTGGAGCCTGTCTACTCACCCCCTGGCAGCCCCCCAC CTGGGGACCCCCGAATCTTTCAGGGATACTCCTTTGTGGCACCCTCCATT CTCTTTGACCACAACAACGCGGTGATGACCGATGGGCTGGAAGCGCCTGG TGCTGGAGACCGGCCAGGTCGGGCAGCGGTGGCCAGGAGCGCTATGATGC AGGACTCGCCCTTCTTCCAGCAGTACGAGCTGGACCTGCGGGAGCCTGCG CTGGGCCAGGGCAGCTTTTCTGTGTGTCGCCGCTGCCGCCAGCGCCAGAG CGGCCAGGAGTTCGCAGTCAAGATCCTCAGTCGCAGGCTGGAGGCGAACA CGCAGCGCGAAGTGGCTGCCCTGCGCCTGTGCCAGTCACACCCCAACGTG GTGAATCTGCACGAGGTGCATCACGACCAGCTGCACACGTACCTGGTCCT GGAGCTGCTGCGGGGCGGGGAGCTGCTGGAGCACATCCGCAAGAAGCGGC ACTTCAGCGAGTCGGAAGCAAGCCAGATCCTGCGCAGCCTCGTGTCGGCC GTGAGCTTCATGCACGAGGAGGCGGGCGTGGTGCACCGCGACCTCAAGCC GGAGAACATCCTGTACGCCGACGACACGCCCGGGGCCCCGGTGAAAATCA TCGACTTCGGGTTCGCGCGGTTGCGGCCGCAGAGTCCCGGGGTGCCCATG CAGACGCCCTGCTTCACGCTGCAGTACGCTGCCCCCGAGCTGCTGGCGCA GCAGGGCTACGACGAGTCCTGCGACCTCTGGAGCCTGGGCGTCATTCTGT ACATGATGCTGTCGGGGCAGGTCCCCTTCCAGGGGGCCTCTGGCCAGGGC GGGCAGAGCCAGGCGGCCGAGATCATGTGCAAAATCCGCGAGGGGCGCTT CTCCCTTGACGGGGAGGCCTGGCAGGGTGTATCCGAGGAAGCCAAGGAGC TGGTCCGAGGGCTCCTGACCGTGGACCCCGCCAAGCGGCTGAAGCTCGAG GGACTGCGGGGCAGCTCGTGGCTGCAGGACGGCAGCGCGCGCTCCTCGCC CCCGCTCCGGACGCCCGACGTGCTCGAGTCCTCTGGGCCCGCAGTGCGCT CGGGTCTCAACGCCACCTTCATGGCATTCAACCGGGGCAAGCGGGAGGGC TTCTTCCTGAAGAGCGTGGAGAATGCACCCCTCA or (SEQ ID NO:13)

CACGCGTCCGGAGACGAGGATGAGGACGAGGGCTGCGCCGTGGAGCTGC AGATCACCGAAGCCAACCTCACCGGGCATGAGGAGAAGGTGAGCGTGGA GAACTTCGCGCTGCTCAAGGTGCTGGGCACGGGAGCCTATGGGAAGGTG TTCCTGGTGCGGAAGACGGGTGGGCACGACGCGGGCAAGCTCTATGCCA TGAAGGTGCTACGCAAGGCGGCGTTGGTGCAGCGCGCGAAGACACAGGA GCATACCCGCACCGAACGCTCGGTGCTGGAGCTGGTTCGCCAAGCACCC TTCCTGGTCACACTGCACTACGCCTTCCAGACGGATGCCAAGCTGCACC TCATCCTGGACTACGTGAGCGGTGGTGAGATGTTCACTCACCTCTACCA GCGCCAGTACTTCAAGGAGGCTGAGGTTCGAGTGTATGGGGGCGAGATT GTGCTGGCCCTGGAACACCTGCACAAGCTGGGTATCATCTACCGGGACC TGAAGCTGGAGAACGTCTTACTTGACTCAGAAGGTCACATCGTCCTTAC AGACTTTGGGCTGAGCAAGGAGTTCCTGACGGAGGAGAAAGAGCGGACC TTCTCCTTCTGTGGCACAATCGAGTACATGGCTCCCGAAATCATCCGAA GCAAGGCTGGACATGGCAAGGCTGTGGACTGGTGGAGCCTGGGTATCCT GCTCTTCGAGCTGCTGACAGGGGCCTCACCCTTCACACTGGAGGGAGAG AGGAACACTCAGGCTGAGGTGTCCCGACGGATCTTGAAGTGCTCCCCTC CCTTCCCTCTCCGGATTGGGCCTGTGGCACAGGACCTGCTACAGCGGCT GCTGTGCAAGGACCCTAAGAAGAGGTTGGGCGCAGGTCCCCAGGGTGCG CAGGAAGTCAAGAGTCACCCCTTCTTCAGGGTCTGGACTGGGTGGGCTC TGGCTGCCAGAAAGATCCCAGCCCCATTCCGGCCCCAGATCCGCTCAGA GCTGGATGTGGGGAATTTTGCGGAGGAATTCACCCGGCTGGAGCCCGTC TACTCCCCTGCAGGCAGCCCTCCACCTGGGGACCCTCGGATCTTTCAGG GATACTCCTTCGTGGCTCCGTCCATCCTCTTTGACCACAACAATGCAGT GATGGCTGATGTACTGCAGGCACCGGGTGCCGGATACAGGCCCGGCAGG GCAGCAGTTGCCAGGAGTGCCATGATGCAGGACTCGCCTTTCTTCCAGC AGTACGAACTGGACCTTCGGGAGCCAGCGCTGGGGCAGGGCAGCTTCTC TGTGTGTCGGAGATGTAGGCAGCGCCAGAGCGGCCAGGAGTTTGCTGTC AAGATCCTCAGCCGCAGGCTGGAGGAGAACACTCAGCGAGAGGTGGCTG CTCTTCGCCTGTGCCAGTCACACCCCAACGTGGTGAATCTGCATGAGGT GCTTCATGACCAGCTACACACTTACCTGGTCCTGGAGTTGCTGCGAGGC GGAGAGCTATTGGAACACATCCGCAAGAAGCGGCTCTTCAGCGAGTCGG AGGCCAGCCAGATCCTTCGGAGCCTGGTTTCGGCCGTGAGCTTCATGCA CGAGGAGGCAGGCGTGGTGCACCGCGACCTGAAACCCGAGAACATCTTG TACGCGGACGACACTCCCGGGGCCCCGGTGAAGATCATCGACTTCGGGT TCGCGCGACTGCGGCCCCAGAGCCCGGCAGAGCCCATGCAGACTCCTTG CTTCACACTGCAGTACGCTGCACCCGAGCTGCTGGCACAGCAGGGCTAC GATGAGTCCTGCGATCTATGGAGCCTGGGTGTCATTCTGTACATGATGC TGTCTGGCCAGGTTCCCTTCCAAGGGGCCTCCGGCCAGGGTGGACAGAG TCAGGCAGCTGAGATCATGTGCAAGATCCGTGAAGGGCGCTTCTCCCTG GACGGGGAAGCCTGGCAAGGTGTGTCGGAGGAAGCCAAGGAGCTGGTCC GAGGGCTACTGACAGTCGACCCCGCCAAGCGGCTGAAGCTGGAGGGGCT GCGTAGCAGCTCGTGGCTTCAGGACGGCAGCGCGCGCTCCTCGCCCCCG CTCCGCACGCCGGATGTGCTGGAGTCCTCTGGGCCAGCTGTGCGTTCCG GGCTCAATGCCACTTTCATGGCGTTCAACCGAGGCAAGCGCGAGGGCTT CTTTCTCAAGAGTGTAGAGAATGCGCCTCTGGCCAAGAGGCGCAAGCAG AAGCTCCGGAGCGCGGC or a variant, fragment, fusion or derivative thereof.

The above polynucleotides encode partial human (two splice variants) or mouse MSK2 respectively.

A full length human MSK2 polypeptide sequence may be as follows and as given in GenBank entry accession number AJ010119 (Pierrat et al (1998) J Biol Chem 273 (45), 29661–29671) (SEQ ID NO:36):

MGDEDDDESCAVELRITEANLTGHEEKVSVENFELLKVLGTGAYGKVFLV RKAGGHDAGKLYAMKVLRKAALVQRAKTQEHTRTERSVLELVRQAPFLVT LHYAFQTDAKLHLILDYVSGGEMFTHLYQRQYFKEAEVRVYGGEIVLALE HLNKLGIIYRDLKLENVLLDSEGHIVLTDFGLSKEFLTEEKERTFSFCGT IEYMAPEIIRSKTGHGKAVDWWSLGILLFELLTGASPFTLEGERNTQAEV SRRILKCSPPFPPRIGPVAQDLLQRLLCKDPKKRLGAGPQGAQEVRNHPF FQGLDWVALAARKIPAPFRPQIRSELDVGNFAEEFTRLEPVYSPPGSPPP GDPRIFQGYSFVAPSILFDHNNAVMTDGLEAPGAGDRPGRAAVARSAMMQ DSPFFQQYELDLREPALGQGSFSVCRRCRQRQSGQEFAVKILSRRLEANT QREVAALRLCQSHPNVVNLHEVHHDQLHTYLVLELLRGGELLEHIRKKRH FSESEASQILRSLVSAVSFMHEEAGVVHRDLKPENILYADDTPGAPVKII DFGFARLRPQSPGVPMQTPCFTLQYAAPELLAQQGYDESCDLWSLGVILY MMLSGQVPFQGASGQGGQSQAAEIMCKIREGRFSLDGEAWQGVSEEAKEL VRGLLTVDPAKRLKLEGLRGSSWLQDGSARSSPPLRTPDVLESSGPAVRS GLNATFMAFNRGKREGFFLKSVENAPLAKRRKQKLRSATASRRGSPAPAN PGRAPVASKGAPRRANGPLPPS

A full length human MSK2 nucleotide sequence may be as follows and as given in GenBank entry accession number AJ010119 (Pierrat et al(1998) J Biol Chem 273 (45), 29661–29671) (SEQ ID NO:37):

GGAGCCGCCATGTAACCGGCGCCGCCCGGAGCCCGAGCCGCGCGGGCCCC AGCGACCCGCCCGCCATGGGGGACGAGGACGACGATGAGAGCTGCGCCGT GGAGCTGCGGATCACAGAAGCCAACCTGACCGGGCACGAGGAGAAGGTGA GCGTGGAGAACTTCGAGCTGCTCAAGGTGCTGGGCACGGGAGCCTACGGC AAGGTGTTCCTGGTGCGGAAGGCGGGCGGGCACGACGCGGGGAAGCTGTA CGCCATGAAGGTGCTGCGCAAGGCGGCGCTGGTGCAGCGCGCCAAGACGC AGGAGCACACGCGCACCGAGCGCTCGGTGCTGGAGCTGGTGCGCCAGGCG CCCTTCCTGGTCACGCTGCACTACGCTTTCCAGACGGATGCCAAGCTGCA CCTCATCCTGGACTATGTGAGCGGCGGGGAGATGTTCACCCACCTCTACC AGCGCCAGTACTTCAAGGAGGCTGAGGTGCGCGTGTATGGGGGTGAGATC GTGCTGGCCCTGGAACACCTGCACAAGCTCGGCATCATTTACCGAGACCT GAAACTGGAGAATGTGCTGCTGGACTCCGAGGGCCACATTGTCCTCACGG ACTTCGGGCTGAGCAAGGAGTTCCTGACGGAGGAGAAAGAGCGGACCTTC TCCTTCTGTGGCACCATCGAGTACATGGCCCCCGAAATCATCCGTAGCAA GACGGGGCATGGCAAGGCTGTGGACTGGTGGAGCCTGGGCATCTTGCTCT TCGAGCTGCTGACGGGGGCCTCGCCCTTCACCCTGGAGGGCGAGAGGAAC ACGCAGGCTGAGGTGTCTCGACGGATCCTGAAGTGCTCCCCTCCCTTCCC CCCTCGGATCGGGCCCGTGGCGCAGGACCTGCTGCAGCGGCTGCTTTGTA AGGATCCTAAGAAGCGATTGGGCGCGGGGCCCCAGGGGGCACAAGAAGTC CGGAACCATCCCTTCTTCCAGGGCCTCGATTGGGTGGCTCTGGCTGCCAG GAAGATTCCAGCCCCATTCCGGCCCCAAATCCGCTCAGAGCTGGATGTGG GCAACTTTGCGGAGGAATTCACTCGGCTGGAGCCTGTCTACTCACCCCCT GGCAGCCCCCCACCTGGGGACCCCCGAATCTTTCAGGGATACTCCTTTGT GGCACCCTCCATTCTCTTTGACCACAACAACGCGGTGATGACCGATGGGC TGGAAGCGCCTGGTGCTGGAGACCGGCCAGGTCGGGCAGCGGTGGCCAGG AGCGCTATGATGCAGGACTCGCCCTTCTTCCAGCAGTACGAGCTGGACCT GCGGGAGCCTGCGCTGGGCCAGGGCAGCTTTTCTGTGTGTCGCCGCTGCC GCCAGCGCCAGAGCGGCCAGGAGTTCGCAGTCAAGATCCTCAGTCGCAGG CTGGAGGCGAACACGCAGCGCGAAGTGGCTGCCCTGCGCCTGTGCCAGTC ACACCCCAACGTGGTGAATCTGCACGAGGTGCATCACGACCAGCTGCACA CGTACCTGGTCCTGGAGCTGCTGCGGGGCGGGGAGCTGCTGGAGCACATC CGCAAGAAGCGGCACTTCAGCGAGTCGGAAGCAAGCCAGATCCTGCGCAG CCTCGTGTCGGCCGTGAGCTTCATGCACGAGGAGGCGGGCGTGGTGCACC GCGACCTCAAGCCGGAGAACATCCTGTACGCCGACGACACGCCCGGGGCC CCGGTGAAAATCATCGACTTCGGGTTCGCGCGGTTGCGGCCGCAGAGTCC CGGGGTGCCCATGCAGACGCCCTGCTTCACGCTGCAGTACGCTGCCCCCG AGCTGCTGGCGCAGCAGGGCTACGACGAGTCCTGCGACCTCTGGAGCCTG GGCGTCATTCTGTACATGATGCTGTCGGGGCAGGTCCCCTTCCAGGGGGC CTCTGGCCAGGGCGGGCAGAGCCAGGCGGCCGAGATCATGTGCAAAATCC GCGAGGGGCGCTTCTCCCTTGACGGGGAGGCCTGGCAGGGTGTATCCGAG GAAGCCAAGGAGCTGGTCCGAGGGCTCCTGACCGTGGACCCCGCCAAGCG GCTGAAGCTCGAGGGACTGCGGGGCAGCTCGTGGCTGCAGGACGGCAGCG CGCGCTCCTCGCCCCCGCTCCGGACGCCCGACGTGCTCGAGTCCTCTGGG CCCGCAGTGCGCTCGGGTCTCAACGCCACCTTCATGGCATTCAACCGGGG CAAGCGGGAGGGCTTCTTCCTGAAGAGCGTGGAGAATGCACCCCTGGCCA AGCGGCGGAAGCAGAAGCTGCGGAGCGCCACCGCCTCCCGCCGGGGCTCC CCTGCACCAGCCAACCCGGGCCGAGCCCCCGTCGCCTCCAAAGGGGCCCC CCGCCGAGCCAACGGCCCCCTGCCCCCCTCCTAATCCCCACCACTGTGAC CCCCTTCCCTCATAGGGGCTGTGACCTGGGAGCCCGGCTCACTCCCGGAG GCCTCTGCCTGCGGCTGACCTGATCCCCAAGGGACTGTCCTTTCCTCTCC TACCCCACCCCACTCCCAGACAGAGCAGAAGTATTTTTATAAGCAGAGAA TTTTTTATGTCTTACCAGATAGAGTTGCAGGGAAGGGGGGGCCTGCTGGG GAGTGGGGTTTGGGGGGCCCTCTCCCAGGACACTGCCTCTTCTGGGCAGA AGGCCCCTCCAGGGGGACTGCTCCAACAGGAAAGAGCCCCTCCCCCACTT CTAAGCACTGAGTTAGGAGTGCTAACTCCTAAACTGGGACCCCCTACCCT GTTCTCCCCTGAGGCCCCGTTCCTGGGAGGGGCACCCCTCAACTGTCACT TTATGGACTGTCTGTGCAATTACGTCCACCAAAGACCCGTGTTGGGGGTA CTGAAGGAGAGGCCCTGGGGGACCCTCTGAAGCATTTCTGCCTCACTTTA TGTCATCTGCTTCTCCCCTGTTGGGGCTAAGGAAGGAGATAGGTGGCTCC TAAAAGAGGAGGCCATCTTCTCACCCACCCCTTCCTCTTTGGCACAGCTA CTCCTGGCTGGGGGTGGGGCCTTGGGGGTCTGGGCTGGGCATCCATGGTC ACTGCCTCAGCCCAGCCAGGCTGTGCCTTTGACTTTAAAATAAAAGTCCA CCCAGTGCTGTGTGTGGCAAAAAAAAAAAAA

It will be appreciated that an expressed sequence tag (EST) clone is not a recombinant polynucleotide as defined above as it lacks sequences necessary for the translation and therefore expression of the expressed sequence tag. EST sequences may be cloned in the vector Uni-ZAP XR, pT7T3D-Pac, pBluescript SK-, Lafinid BA or pCMV-SPORT2 vector.

A polynucleotide comprising a fragment of the recombinant polynucleotide encoding a polypeptide of the invention or a variant, fragment, fusion or derivative may also be useful. Preferably, the polynucleotide comprises a fragment which is at least 10 nucleotides in length, more preferably at least 14 nucleotides in length and still more preferably at least 18 nucleotides in length. Such polynucleotides are useful as PCR primers. A polynucleotide complementary to the polynucleotide (or a fragment thereof) encoding a polypeptide of the invention or a variant, fragment, fusion or derivative may also be useful. Such complementary polynucleotides are well known to those skilled in the art as antisense polynucleotides.

The polynucleotide or recombinant polynucleotide of the invention may be DNA or RNA, preferably DNA. The polynucleotide may or may not contain introns in the coding sequence; preferably the polynucleotide is a cDNA.

A “variation” of the polynucleotide includes one which is (i) usable to produce a protein or a fragment thereof which is in turn usable to prepare antibodies which specifically bind to the protein encoded by the said polynucleotide or (ii) an antisense sequence corresponding to the gene or to a variation of type (i) as just defined. For example, different codons can be substituted which code for the same amino acid(s) as the original codons. Alternatively, the substitute codons may code for a different amino acid that will not affect the activity or immunogenicity of the protein or which may improve or otherwise modulate its activity or immunogenicity. For example, site-directed mutagenesis or other techniques can be employed to create single or multiple mutations, such as replacements, insertions, deletions, and transpositions, as described in Botstein and Shortle, “Strategies and Applications of In Vitro Mutagenesis” Science, 229: 193–210 (1985), which is incorporated herein by reference. Since such modified polynucleotides can be obtained by the application of known techniques to the teachings contained herein, such modified polynucleotides are within the scope of the claimed invention.

Moreover, it will be recognised by those skilled in the art that the polynucleotide sequence (or fragments thereof) encoding a polypeptide of the invention can be used to obtain other polynucleotide sequences that hybridise with it under conditions of high stringency. Such polynucleotides includes any genomic DNA. Accordingly, the polynucleotide of the invention includes polynucleotide that shows at least 60%, preferably 70%, and more preferably at least 80% and most preferably at least 90% homology with the polynucleotide identified in the method of the invention, provided that such homologous polynucleotide encodes a polypeptide which is usable in at least some of the methods described below or is otherwise useful.

Percent homology can be determined by, for example, the GAP program of the University of Wisconsin Genetic Computer Group.

DNA—DNA, DNA-RNA and RNA—RNA hybridisation may be performed in aqueous solution containing between 0.1×SSC and 6×SSC and at temperatures of between 55° C. and 70° C. It is well known in the art that the higher the temperature or the lower the SSC concentration the more stringent the hybridisation conditions. By “high stringency” we mean 2×SSC and 65° C. 1×SSC is 0.15M NaCl/0.015M sodium citrate. Polynucleotides which hybridise at high stringency are included within the scope of the claimed invention.

“Variations” of the polynucleotide also include polynucleotide in which relatively short stretches (for example 20 to 50 nucleotides) have a high degree of homology (at least 80% and preferably at least 90 or 95%) with equivalent stretches of the polynucleotide of the invention even though the overall homology between the two polynucleotides may be much less. This is because important active or binding sites may be shared even when the general architecture of the protein is different.

A variety of methods have been developed to operably link polynucleotides, especially DNA, to vectors for example via complementary cohesive termini. Suitable methods are described in Sambrook et al(1989) Molecular Cloning, A Laboratory Manual, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y.

A desirable way to modify the DNA encoding a polypeptide of the invention is to use the polymerase chain reaction as disclosed by Saiki et al(1988) Science 239, 487–491. This method may be used for introducing the DNA into a suitable vector, for example by engineering in suitable restriction sites, or it may be used to modify the DNA in other useful ways as is known in the art.

In this method the DNA to be enzymatically amplified is flanked by two specific primers which themselves become incorporated into the amplified DNA. The said specific primers may contain restriction endonuclease recognition sites which can be used for cloning into expression vectors using methods known in the art.

The DNA (or in the case of retroviral vectors, RNA) is then expressed in a suitable host to produce a polypeptide comprising the compound of the invention. Thus, the DNA encoding the polypeptide constituting the compound of the invention may be used in accordance with known techniques, appropriately modified in view of the teachings contained herein, to construct an expression vector, which is then used to transform an appropriate host cell for the expression and production of the polypeptide of the invention. Such techniques include those disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,440,859 issued 3 Apr. 1984 to Rutter et al, U.S. Pat. No. 4,530,901 issued 23 Jul. 1985 to Weissman, U.S. Pat. No. 4,582,800 issued 15 Apr. 1986 to Crowl, U.S. Pat. No. 4,677,063 issued 30 Jun. 1987 to Mark et al, U.S. Pat. No. 4,678,751 issued 7 Jul. 1987 to Goeddel, U.S. Pat. No. 4,704,362 issued 3 Nov. 1987 to Itakura et al, U.S. Pat. No. 4,710,463 issued 1 Dec. 1987 to Murray, U.S. Pat. No. 4,757,006 issued 12 Jul. 1988 to Toole, Jr. et al, U.S. Pat. No. 4,766,075 issued 23 Aug. 1988 to Goeddel et aland U.S. Pat. No. 4,810,648 issued 7 Mar. 1989 to Stalker, all of which are incorporated herein by reference.

The DNA (or in the case of retroviral vectors, RNA) encoding the polypeptide constituting the compound of the invention may be joined to a wide variety of other DNA sequences for introduction into an appropriate host. The companion DNA will depend upon the nature of the host, the manner of the introduction of the DNA into the host, and whether episomal maintenance or integration is desired.

Generally, the DNA is inserted into an expression vector, such as a plasmid, in proper orientation and correct reading frame for expression. If necessary, the DNA may be linked to the appropriate transcriptional and translational regulatory control nucleotide sequences recognised by the desired host, although such controls are generally available in the expression vector. The vector is then introduced into the host through standard techniques. Generally, not all of the hosts will be transformed by the vector. Therefore, it will be necessary to select for transformed host cells. One selection technique involves incorporating into the expression vector a DNA sequence, with any necessary control elements, that codes for a selectable trait in the transformed cell, such as antibiotic resistance. Alternatively, the gene for such selectable trait can be on another vector, which is used to co-transform the desired host cell.

Host cells that have been transformed by the recombinant DNA of the invention are then cultured for a sufficient time and under appropriate conditions known to those skilled in the art in view of the teachings disclosed herein to permit the expression of the polypeptide, which can then be recovered.

Many expression systems are known, including bacteria (for example E. coli and Bacillus subtilis), yeasts (for example Saccharomyces cerevisiae), filamentous fungi (for example Aspergillus), plant cells, animal cells and insect cells.

The vectors include a prokaryotic replicon, such as the ColE1 ori, for propagation in a prokaryote, even if the vector is to be used for expression in other, non-prokaryotic, cell types. The vectors can also include an appropriate promoter such as a prokaryotic promoter capable of directing the expression (transcription and translation) of the genes in a bacterial host cell, such as E. coli, transformed therewith.

A promoter is an expression control element formed by a DNA sequence that permits binding of RNA polymerase and transcription to occur. Promoter sequences compatible with exemplary bacterial hosts are typically provided in plasmid vectors containing convenient restriction sites for insertion of a DNA segment of the present invention.

Typical prokaryotic vector plasmids are pUC18, pUC19, pBR322 and pBR329 available from Biorad Laboratories, (Richmond, Calif., USA) and pTrc99A and pKK223-3 available from Pharmacia, Piscataway, N.J., USA.

A typical mammalian cell vector plasmid is pSVL available from Pharmacia, Piscataway, N.J., USA. This vector uses the SV40 late promoter to drive expression of cloned genes, the highest level of expression being found in T antigen-producing cells, such as COS-1 cells.

An example of an inducible mammalian expression vector is pMSG, also available from Pharmacia. This vector uses the glucocorticoid-inducible promoter of the mouse mammary tumour virus long terminal repeat to drive expression of the cloned gene.

Useful yeast plasmid vectors are pRS403–406 and pRS413-416 and are generally available from Stratagene Cloning Systems, La Jolla, Calif. 92037, USA. Plasmids pRS403, pRS404, pRS405 and pRS406 are Yeast Integrating plasmids (YIps) and incorporate the yeast selectable markers HIS3, TRP1, LEU2 and URA3. Plasmids pRS413-416 are Yeast Centromere plasmids (YCps).

The present invention also relates to a host cell transformed with a polynucleotide vector construct of the present invention. The host cell can be either prokaryotic or eukaryotic. Bacterial cells are preferred prokaryotic host cells and typically are a strain of E. coli such as, for example, the E. coli strains DH5 available from Bethesda Research Laboratories Inc., Bethesda, Md., USA, and RR1 available from the American Type Culture Collection (ATCC) of Rockville, Md., USA (No ATCC 31343). Preferred eukaryotic host cells include yeast, insect and mammalian cells, preferably vertebrate cells such as those from a mouse, rat, monkey or human fibroblastic cell line. Yeast host cells include YPH499, YPH500 and YPH501 which are generally available from Stratagene Cloning Systems, La Jolla, Calif. 92037, USA. Preferred mammalian host cells include Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells available from the ATCC as CCL61, NIH Swiss mouse embryo cells NIH/3T3 available from the ATCC as CRL 1658, and monkey kidney-derived COS-1 cells available from the ATCC as CRL 1650. Preferred insect cells are Sf9 cells which can be transfected with baculovirus expression vectors.

Transformation of appropriate cell hosts with a DNA construct of the present invention is accomplished by well known methods that typically depend on the type of vector used. With regard to transformation of prokaryotic host cells, see, for example, Cohen et al(1972) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 69, 2110 and Sambrook et al(1989) Molecular Cloning, A Laboratory Manual, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y. Transformation of yeast cells is described in Sherman et al(1986) Methods In Yeast Genetics, A Laboratory Manual, Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y. The method of Beggs (1978) Nature 275, 104–109 is also useful. With regard to vertebrate cells, reagents useful in transfecting such cells, for example calcium phosphate and DEAE-dextran or liposome formulations, are available from Stratagene Cloning Systems, or Life Technologies Inc., Gaithersburg, Md. 20877, USA.

Electroporation is also useful for transforming and/or transfecting cells and is well known in the art for transforming yeast cell, bacterial cells, insect cells and vertebrate cells.

For example, many bacterial species may be transformed by the methods described in Luchansky et al(1988) Mol. Microbiol. 2, 637–646 incorporated herein by reference. The greatest number of transformants is consistently recovered following electroporation of the DNA-cell mixture suspended in 2.5×PEB using 6250V per cm at 25:FD.

Methods for transformation of yeast by electroporation are disclosed in Becker & Guarente (1990) Methods Enzymol. 194, 182.

Successfully transformed cells, ie cells that contain a DNA construct of the present invention, can be identified by well known techniques. For example, cells resulting from the introduction of an expression construct of the present invention can be grown to produce the polypeptide of the invention. Cells can be harvested and lysed and their DNA content examined for the presence of the DNA using a method such as that described by Southern (1975) J. Mol. Biol. 98, 503 or Berent et al(1985) Biotech. 3, 208. Alternatively, the presence of the protein in the supernatant can be detected using antibodies as described below.

In addition to directly assaying for the presence of recombinant DNA, successful transformation can be confirmed by well known immunological methods when the recombinant DNA is capable of directing the expression of the protein. For example, cells successfully transformed with an expression vector produce proteins displaying appropriate antigenicity. Samples of cells suspected of being transformed are harvested and assayed for the protein using suitable antibodies.

Thus, in addition to the transformed host cells themselves, the present invention also contemplates a culture of those cells, preferably a monoclonal (clonally homogeneous) culture, or a culture derived from a monoclonal culture, in a nutrient medium.

A further aspect of the invention provides a method of making the polypeptide of the invention or a variant, derivative, fragment or fusion thereof or a fusion of a variant, fragment or derivative the method comprising culturing a host cell comprising a recombinant polynucleotide or a replicable vector which encodes said polypeptide, and isolating said polypeptide or a variant, derivative, fragment or fusion thereof or a fusion of a variant, fragment or derivative from said host cell. Methods of cultivating host cells and isolating recombinant proteins are well known in the art.

The invention also includes a polypeptide, or a variant, fragment, derivative or fusion thereof, or fusion of a said variant or fragment or derivative obtainable by the above method of the invention.

A still further aspect of the invention provides an antibody reactive towards a polypeptide of the invention. Examples of such antibodies and of methods of preparing such antibodies are given in Example 1.

Antibodies reactive towards the said polypeptide of the invention may be made by methods well known in the art. In particular, the antibodies may be polyclonal or monoclonal.

Suitable monoclonal antibodies which are reactive towards the said polypeptide may be prepared by known techniques, for example those disclosed in “Monoclonal Antibodies: A manual of techniques”, H Zola (CRC Press, 1988) and in “Monoclonal Hybridoma Antibodies: Techniques and Applications”, SGR Hurrell (CRC Press, 1982).

In a preferred embodiment the antibody is raised using any suitable peptide sequence obtainable from the given amino acid sequence of MSK1 or MSK2 as appropriate. It is preferred if polyclonal antipeptide antibodies are made. Suitable peptides obtainable from MSK1 include LTVKHELRTANLTGHAEKV (SEQ ID NO:14)(corresponding to residues 26 to 44 of MSK1 and FKRNAAVIDPLQFHMGVER (SEQ ID NO:15) (corresponding to residues 384 to 402 of MSK1), as discussed in Example 1. A suitable peptide obtainable from MSK2 is FKRNAAVIDPLQFHMGVER (SEQ ID NO:15) (corresponding to residues 753–772 of MSK2).

It is particularly preferred if the antibody does not react substantially with another two-kinase domain protein kinase such as MAPKAP-K1a/b/c. Accordingly, it may be preferred if peptides based on the MSK1 or MSK2 sequence are used which vary significantly from any peptides found in any other stress-activated protein kinases such as MAPKAP-K1a/b/c. It may also be preferred that an antibody reacts with MSK1 but does not react substantially with MSK2, and vice versa.

Peptides in which one or more of the amino acid residues are chemically modified, before or after the peptide is synthesised, may be used providing that the function of the peptide, namely the production of specific antibodies in vivo, remains substantially unchanged. Such modifications include forming salts with acids or bases, especially physiologically acceptable organic or inorganic acids and bases, forming an ester or amide of a terminal carboxyl group, and attaching amino acid protecting groups such as N-t-butoxycarbonyl. Such modifications may protect the peptide from in vivo metabolism. The peptides may be present as single copies or as multiples, for example tandem repeats. Such tandem or multiple repeats may be sufficiently antigenic themselves to obviate the use of a carrier. It may be advantageous for the peptide to be formed as a loop, with the N-terminal and C-terminal ends joined together, or to add one or more Cys residues to an end to increase antigenicity and/or to allow disulphide bonds to be formed. If the peptide is covalently linked to a carrier, preferably a polypeptide, then the arrangement is preferably such that the peptide of the invention forms a loop.

According to current immunological theories, a carrier function should be present in any immunogenic formulation in order to stimulate, or enhance stimulation of, the immune system. It is thought that the best carriers embody (or, together with the antigen, create) a T-cell epitope. The peptides may be associated, for example by cross-linking, with a separate carrier, such as serum albumins, myoglobins, bacterial toxoids and keyhole limpet haemocyanin. More recently developed carriers which induce T-cell help in the immune response include the hepatitis-B core antigen (also called the nucleocapsid protein), presumed T-cell epitopes such as Thr-Ala-Ser-Gly-Val-Ala-Glu-Thr-Thr-Asn-Cys, beta-galactosidase and the 163–171 peptide of interleukin-1. The latter compound may variously be regarded as a carrier or as an adjuvant or as both. Alternatively, several copies of the same or different peptides of the invention may be cross-linked to one another; in this situation there is no separate carrier as such, but a carrier function may be provided by such cross-linking. Suitable cross-linking agents include those listed as such in the Sigma and Pierce catalogues, for example glutaraldehyde, carbodiimide and succinimidyl 4-(N-maleimidomethyl)cyclohexane-1-carboxylate, the latter agent exploiting the —SH group on the C-terminal cysteine residue (if present).

If the peptide is prepared by expression of a suitable nucleotide sequence in a suitable host, then it may be advantageous to express the peptide as a fusion product with a peptide sequence which acts as a carrier. Kabigen's “Ecosec” system is an example of such an arrangement.

The peptide of the invention may be linked to other antigens to provide a dual effect.

Peptides may be synthesised by the Fmoc-polyamide mode of solid-phase peptide synthesis as disclosed by Lu et al(1981) J. Org. Chem. 46, 3433 and references therein. Temporary N-amino group protection is afforded by the 9-fluorenylmethyloxycarbonyl (Fmoc) group. Repetitive cleavage of this highly base-labile protecting group is effected using 20% piperidine in N,N-dimethylformamide. Side-chain functionalities may be protected as their butyl ethers (in the case of serine threonine and tyrosine), butyl esters (in the case of glutamic acid and aspartic acid), butyloxycarbonyl derivative (in the case of lysine and histidine), trityl derivative (in the case of cysteine) and 4-methoxy-2,3,6-trimethylbenzenesulphonyl derivative (in the case of arginine). Where glutamine or asparagine are C-terminal residues, use is made of the 4,4′-dimethoxybenzhydryl group for protection of the side chain amido functionalities. The solid-phase support is based on a polydimethyl-acrylamide polymer constituted from the three monomers dimethylacrylamide (backbone-monomer), bisacryloylethylene diamine (cross linker) and acryloylsarcosine methyl ester (functionalising agent). The peptide-to-resin cleavable linked agent used is the acid-labile 4-hydroxymethyl-phenoxyacetic acid derivative. All amino acid derivatives are added as their preformed symmetrical anhydride derivatives with the exception of asparagine and glutamine, which are added using a reversed N,N-dicyclohexyl-carbodiimide/1-hydroxybenzotriazole mediated coupling procedure. All coupling and deprotection reactions are monitored using ninhydrin, trinitrobenzene sulphonic acid or isotin test procedures. Upon completion of synthesis, peptides are cleaved from the resin support with concomitant removal of side-chain protecting groups by treatment with 95% trifluoroacetic acid containing a 50% scavenger mix. Scavengers commonly used are ethanedithiol, phenol, anisole and water, the exact choice depending on the constituent amino acids of the peptide being synthesised. Trifluoroacetic acid is removed by evaporation in vacuo, with subsequent trituration with diethyl ether affording the crude peptide. Any scavengers present are removed by a simple extraction procedure which on lyophilisation of the aqueous phase affords the crude peptide free of scavengers. Reagents for peptide synthesis are generally available from Calbiochem-Novabiochem (UK) Ltd, Nottingham NG7 2QJ, UK. Purification may be effected by any one, or a combination of, techniques such as size exclusion chromatography, ion-exchange chromatography and (principally) reverse-phase high performance liquid chromatography. Analysis of peptides may be carried out using thin layer chromatography, reverse-phase high performance liquid chromatography, amino-acid analysis after acid hydrolysis and by fast atom bombardment (FAB) mass spectrometric analysis.

A further aspect of the invention provides a method of identifying a drug-like compound or lead compound for the development of a drug-like compound that modulates the activity of a polypeptide as defined in the first aspect of the invention, the method comprising contacting a compound with the polypeptide or a suitable variant, fragment, derivative or fusion thereof or a fusion of a variant, fragment or derivative thereof and determining whether the protein kinase activity of the said polypeptide is changed compared to the activity of the said polypeptide or said variant, fragment, derivative or fusion thereof or a fusion of a variant, fragment or derivative thereof in the absence of said compound.

The term “drug-like compound” is well known to those skilled in the art, and may include the meaning of a compound that has characteristics that may make it suitable for use in medicine, for example as the active ingredient in a medicament. Thus, for example, a drug-like compound may be a molecule that may be synthesised by the techniques of organic chemistry, less preferably by techniques of molecular biology or biochemistry, and is preferably a small molecule, which may be of less than 5000 daltons molecular weight and which may be water-soluble. A drug-like compound may additionally exhibit features of selective interaction with a particular protein or proteins and be bioavailable and/or able to penetrate target cellular membranes, but it will be appreciated that these features are not essential.

The term “lead compound” is similarly well known to those skilled in the art, and may include the meaning that the compound, whilst not itself suitable for use as a drug (for example because it is only weakly potent against its intended target, non-selective in its action, unstable, poorly soluble, difficult to synthesise or has poor bioavailability) may provide a starting-point for the design of other compounds that may have more desirable characteristics.

The compound may act by interacting with the polypeptide of the invention and modulating, for example inhibiting, its activation by MAPK2 or SAPK2/p38, as discussed further below.

It will be understood that it will be desirable to identify compounds that may modulate the activity of the polypeptide in vivo. Thus it will be understood that reagents and conditions used in the method may be chosen such that the interactions between the said polypeptide and its substrate are substantially the same as between human MSK1 or MSK2 and their substrate or substrates in vivo. An example of a substrate of said MSK1 polypeptide is CREB or ATF1.

In one embodiment, the compound decreases the activity of said polypeptide. For example, the compound may bind substantially reversibly or substantially irreversibly to the active site of said polypeptide. In a further example, the compound may bind to a portion of said polypeptide that is not the active site so as to interfere with the binding of the said polypeptide to its substrate. In a still further example, the compound may bind to a portion of said polypeptide so as to decrease said polypeptide's activity by an allosteric effect. This allosteric effect may be an allosteric effect that is involved in the natural regulation of the said polypeptide's activity, for example in the activation of the said polypeptide by an “upstream activator” such as MAPK2 or SAPK2/p38.

The compound Ro318220 is an example of an inhibitor of MSK1 and MSK2 activity, as described in Example 1 and Example 5. This compound inhibits other protein kinases in addition to MSK1 and MSK2, but some of these other protein kinases, for example MAPKAP-K2 are largely unaffected at compound concentrations that ablate MSK1 activity, as described in Example 1.

In a further embodiment, the compound increases the activity of said polypeptide. For example, the compound may bind to a portion of said polypeptide that is not the active site so as to aid the binding of the said polypeptide to its substrate. In a still further example, the compound may bind to a portion of said polypeptide so as to increase said polypeptide's activity by an allosteric effect. This allosteric effect may be an allosteric effect that is involved in the natural regulation of the said polypeptide's activity for example in the activation of the said polypeptide by an “upstream activator” such as MAPK2 or SAPK2/p38.

Conveniently, the method makes use of the fact that MSK1 or MSK2 phosphorylates CREB or CREBtide or ATF1 or Crosstide as described in Example 1, but any suitable substrate may be used. Thus the phosphorylation of CREB or CREBtide or ATF1 of Crosstide may be measured using techniques well known to those skilled in the art.

Conveniently, the method makes use of an assay which may be substantially the same as that described in Example 1. In Example 1, phosphorylation of CREB or ATF1 by MSK1 is measured. It is preferred that the MSK1 or MSK2 is recombinant MSK1 or MSK2. It is preferred that the substrate, for example CREB or ATF1, is recombinant.

Alternatively, a change in the activity of the substrate may be measured. For example, the activity of CREB or ATF1 as a transcription factor may be measured. This may be done by measuring the binding of CREB or ATF1 to DNA containing the appropriate binding site, as well known in the art, or by measuring expression of an RNA from a promoter that is regulated by CREB or ATF1. This may be done in a whole cell system or using purified or partially purified components. Similarly, expression of an protein encoded by an RNA transcribed from a promoter regulated by CREB or ATF1 may be measured. The protein may be one that is physiologically regulated by CREB or ATF1 or may be a “reporter” protein, as well known to those skilled in the art (ie a recombinant construct may be used). A reporter protein may be one whose activity may easily be assayed, for example (β-galactosidase, chloramphenicol acetyltransferase or luciferase (see, for example, Tan et al(1996)).

Proteins that are physiologically regulated by CREB may be COX2 and IL-1. Thus, inhibition of CREB may be measured by measuring the expression of COX2 or IL-1 under circumstances when COX2 or IL-1 expression may be expected, as described in Example 5. Thus, COX2 may be expressed in RAW 264 murine macrophages or J774.2 macrophages on exposure of the macrophages to endotoxin, as described, for example, in Mitchell et al(1994) PNAS 90, 11693–11697 and Dubois et al(1998) FASEB J 12, 1063–1073. J774.2 and RAW 264 cells may be obtained from the European Collection of Animal Cell Culture, Salisbury, UK. The expression of COX2 or IL-1 may be measured by any convenient method, for example using PCR to detect the presence of COX2 or IL-1 mRNA, antibody based assays to detect COX2 or IL-1 protein or assays to detect COX2 enzyme activity, for example by measuring the amount of prostaglandins, for example PGE2 produced on exposing the cells to arachidonic acid (the substrate of COX2). Suitable assays may be described in Example 5, Mitchell et al(1994), Slater et al(1995) Am J Obstet Gynecol 172(1), 77–82, or in WO 94/14977. Prostaglandin metabolites rather than the direct products of COX2 may be measured, as prostaglandins may be unstable and rapidly metabolised.

It will be necessary to perform various control assays, as known to those skilled in the art, in order to determine that a compound is affecting the activation of CREB, rather than having some other effect on processes leading to whatever measurement is made. However, assays in which, for example, prostaglandin levels are measured, may be useful in assessing the usefulness of compounds in a whole cell or in vivo system and may be useful in evaluating the concept in different situations, for example, different models of disease. It will be appreciated that assays in which, for example, the effect of a compound on COX2 expression or activity is measured, may be used alongside or interpreted using the results from other assays in which the effect of the compound on the ability of, for example, MSK1 to phosphorylate CREB, for example, is measured more directly.

A still further aspect of the invention provides a method of identifying a compound which binds to CREB or ATF1 (or other substrate of the polypeptide as defined in the first aspect of the invention, preferably MSK1) and either enhances or prevents its activation by the polypeptide as defined in the first aspect of the invention, preferably MSK1, the method comprising determining whether a compound enhances or prevents the interaction of CREB or ATF1 (or other substrate of the polypeptide as defined in the first aspect of the invention, preferably MSK1) or a suitable fragment, variant, derivative or fusion thereof or a suitable fusion of a fragment, variant or derivative with the polypeptide as defined in the first aspect of the invention (preferably MSK1) or determining whether the compound substantially blocks activation of CREB or ATF1 (or other substrate of the polypeptide as defined in the first aspect of the invention, preferably MSK1) or a suitable fragment, variant, derivative or fusion thereof or a suitable fusion of a fragment, variant or derivative by the polypeptide as defined in the first aspect of the invention.

Suitable assays may be similar to those described above.

A still further aspect of the invention provides a method of identifying a compound which modulates the activation of the polypeptide as defined in the first aspect of the invention by an “upstream activator”, for example MAPK2/ERK2 or SAPK2a/p38 or SAPK2b/p38β2. By “upstream activator” is meant a molecule that interacts with the polypeptide of the invention with the result that the protein kinase activity of the polypeptide of the invention is increased. It may be a polypeptide. Preferably, it is a physiological activator of native MSK1 or MSK2.

The method comprises determining whether a compound enhances or disrupts the interaction between (a) a polypeptide as defined in the first aspect of the invention or a suitable fragment, variant, derivative or fusion thereof or a suitable fusion of a fragment, variant or derivative and (b) an “upstream activator”, for example MAPK2/ERK2, SAPK2a/p38 or SAPK2b/p38β2, or a suitable variant, derivative, fragment or fusion thereof or a suitable fusion of a variant, derivative or fragment, or determining whether the compound substantially blocks activation of the said polypeptide or a suitable variant, fragment, derivative or fusion thereof, or a fusion of a said fragment, derivative or fusion by an “upstream activator” or a suitable variant, derivative, fragment or fusion thereof. It will be appreciated that the compound may interact with or bind to either the upstream activator or to the polypeptide of the invention, or both.

Examples of compounds that are able to modulate the activation of MSK1 and MSK2 include inhibitors of SAPK2/p38, for example a pyridinylimidazole inhibitor of SAPK2/p38, as known to those skilled in the art, for example SB203580 or FHPI (4-(4-fluorophenyl)-2-2-(4-hydroxyphenyl)-5-(4-pyridyl)imidazole).

The term “pyridinylimidazole inhibitor” is well known to those skilled in the art, and encompasses compounds comprising a pyridyl ring and an imidazole ring with substituents which bind to and/or inhibit SAPK2a/p38 (or less preferably, are known to inhibit IL-1 production from monocytes) as set out in Gallagher et al (1997) Bioorg Med Chem 5(1), 49–64. Pyridinylimidazole inhibitors are also discussed, for example, in WO95/02591. Compounds of this type are known inhibitors of particular protein kinases and as cytokine-suppressive anti-inflammatory drugs (CSAIDs). Use of these compounds in investigating signalling pathways is reviewed in Cohen (1997) Trends Cell Biol 7, 354–361.

It will be appreciated that the numerical measure of binding affinity or inhibition IC₅₀ for a particular compound/protein combination will depend upon the exact assay system used. A pyridinylimidazole may be considered to be a pyridinylimidazole inhibitor if it has a binding IC₅₀ or kinase IC₅₀ for SAPK2a/p38 (CSBP) of less than 100 μM, preferably less than 10 μM, still more preferably less than 1 or 0.1 or 0.01 μM as set out in Gallagher et al. Examples of pyridinlyimidazole inhibitors include SB 202190 (a 2,4,5-triarylimidazole), SB 203580 (another 3,4,5-triarylimidazole) and derivatives such as the 3′-iodinated compound as described in Tong et al (1997) Nature Structural Biology 4(4), 311–316. A derivative in which the p-methylsulphinylphenyl group is removed may also act as an inhibitor. Substituents may be made at the N1 atom of the imidazole ring and substitutions made at the 2-position of the imidazole ring may be moved to the N1 atom without significant loss of potency.

Examples of compounds that are able to modulate the activation of MSK1 and MSK2 include inhibitors of MAPK2/ERK2 or inhibitors of activation of MAPK2/ERK2, for example inhibitors of MAPK kinase 1 (MKK1) activity or activation, for example PD98059 or U0126.

MAPK2/ERK2 is a known activator of MAPKAP-K1. It is shown here also to be an activator of the polypeptide of the invention, known as MSK1 or MSK2. By “activation of MSK1” it is meant that the ability of MSK1 to phosphorylate CREB or ATF1 (or alternative substrates as listed above) is increased following the treatment of MSK1, for example by MgATP and MAPK2/ERK2.

Expression of MAPK2/ERK2, SAPK2a/p38 and SAPK2b/p38β2 as activated GST fusions is described in Example 1, in which references are also given which describe the sequences of the above proteins.

Thus a further aspect of the invention is the use of MAPK2/ERK2, SAPK2a/p38 or SAPK2b/p38β2 for the activation of the polypeptide of the invention, for example MSK1 or MSK2.

A still further aspect of the invention provides a method of identifying a polypeptide that interacts with the protein kinase (polypeptide) of the invention, the method comprising (1) contacting (a) the said protein kinase as defined in the first aspect of the invention or a suitable variant fragment, derivative or fusion thereof or a fusion of a variant, fragment or derivative thereof with (b) a composition that may contain a polypeptide that interacts with the said protein kinase, (2) detecting the presence of a complex containing the said protein kinase and a polypeptide, and optionally (3) identifying any polypeptide bound to the said protein kinase.

In one embodiment, the composition may comprise material from cells. In particular, the cells may be selected from the following types: (1) cells which do not have MSK1 or MSK2 activity even when stimulated, (2) cells which have MSK1 or MSK2 activity after exposure to a stimulus, but which have not been so exposed and (3) cells of type 2 after exposure to the stimulus. Polypeptides that are found in a subset only of types 1–3 are of particular interest and may be characterised further. Such a peptide may be an activator of MSK1 or MSK2. Alternatively, it may be an inactivator of MSK1 or MSK2.

It will be appreciated that the method may be performed within a cell, for example using the yeast two hybrid system as is well known in the art. In this example, cDNAs copied from mRNA from the three cell types described above would be used.

It will further be appreciated that a transgenic animal in which a MSK1 or MSK2 gene is altered and/or a recombinant MSK1 or MSK2 gene is present, for example a rodent, in particular a mouse, may be useful in, for example, identifying a substrate of MSK1 or MSK2.

A still further aspect of the invention provides a method of identifying a compound which blocks the activation of the polypeptide as defined in the first aspect of the invention by an interacting polypeptide, for example MAPK2 or SAPK2a/p38 or SAPK2b/p38β2, the method comprising determining whether a compound enhances or disrupts the interaction between (a) a protein kinase as defined in the first aspect of the invention or a suitable fragment, variant, derivative or fusion thereof or a suitable fusion of a fragment, variant or derivative and (b) said interacting polypeptide or a suitable variant, derivative, fragment or fusion thereof or a suitable fusion of a variant, derivative or fragment, or determining whether the compound substantially blocks activation of the polypeptide according to the first aspect of the invention or a suitable variant, fragment, derivative or fusion thereof, or a fusion of a said fragment, derivative or fusion by said interacting polypeptide or a suitable variant, derivative, fragment or fusion thereof.

Conveniently, the said polypeptide according to the first aspect of the invention or fragment, derivative, variant or fusion thereof used in the method is one which is produced by recombinant DNA technology. Similarly, it is preferred if the CREB or ATF1 or fragment, derivative, variant or fusion thereof used in the method of identifying compounds that modulate activity of the said protein kinase is one which is produced by recombinant DNA technology. Similarly, it is preferred if MAPK2/ERK2, SAPK2a/p38 or SAPK2b/p38β2 or other “upstream activator” or fragment, derivative, variant or fusion thereof used in the method is one which is produced by recombinant DNA technology.

It will be appreciated that it may be necessary to activate the polypeptide of the invention prior to its use in assays. In a preferred embodiment the polypeptide of the invention (MSK1 or MSK2) is activated in vitro by treating the polypeptide with MAPK2/ERK2 and MgATP, as described in Example 1. It is particularly preferred if the MSK1 or MSK2 is the recombinant polypeptide produced according to the methods of the invention.

It will be appreciated that by “suitable” we mean that the said components in the method are those that have interactions or activities which are substantially the same as those of MSK1 or CREB or ATF1 or other substrates, or the upstream activator such as MAPK2/ERK2 or SAPK2a/p38 or SAPK2b/p38β2 as the case may be but which may be more convenient to use in an assay. For example, fusions of MSK1 or CREB are particularly useful since said fusion may contain a moiety which may allow the fusion to be purified readily.

It will be appreciated that the methods described may be performed in cells. “Reporter gene” constructs may be prepared by methods known to those skilled in the art, using the teaching herein. For example, a reporter gene construct may be made with a CREB or ATF1-dependent promoter sequence. This construct may be introduced together with an MSK1 or MSK2 construct into a cell line, in the parent cell line of which CREB or ATF1 is activated in response to known stimuli, and in which the endogenous MSK1 or MSK2 gene has been inactivated. Alternatively the reporter gene construct could be introduced into the cell line in which CREB or ATF1 is activated in response to known stimuli. The expression of the reporter gene will be dependent on the activity of MSK1 or MSK2 and thus the effect of compounds can be measured. In a further example, the reporter gene may be fatal to the cells, or alternatively may allow cells to survive under otherwise fatal conditions. Cell survival can then be measured, for example using calorimetric assays for mitochondrial activity, such as reduction of WST-1 (Boehringer). WST-1 is a formosan dye that undergoes a change in absorbance on receiving electrons via succinate dehydrogenase. In a further embodiment the yeast two-hybrid system is used.

The enhancement or disruption of the interaction between the said polypeptide of the invention and MSK1 or MSK2 or an interacting polypeptide as defined above, or suitable derivatives, fragments, fusions or variants can be measured in vitro using methods well known in the art of biochemistry and include any methods which can be used to assess protein—protein interactions.

The said interaction can also be measured within a cell, for example using the yeast two hybrid system as is well known in the art.

It will be appreciated that the invention provides screening assays for drugs which may be useful in modulating, for example either enhancing or inhibiting, the activity of MSK1 or MSK2 or its interactions with upstream activators. The compounds identified in the methods may themselves be useful as a drug or they may represent lead compounds for the design and synthesis of more efficacious compounds.

It will be appreciated that screening assays which are capable of high throughput operation will be particularly preferred. Examples may include the cell based assays described and protein—protein binding assays. A further example is an SPA-based (Scintillation Proximity Assay) system as described in Example 2.

A further aspect of the invention provides a compound identifiable by the screening methods of the invention, wherein the compound is not Ro318220, PD98059 or a known pyridinylimidazole inhibitor of SAPK2/p38, for example SB203580 or FHPI (4-(4-fluorophenyl)-2-2-(4-hydroxyphenyl)-5-(4-pyridyl)imidazole). The compound may be a compound that enhances or a compound that inhibits, the activity of MSK1 or MSK2. A still further aspect provides such a compound for use in medicine.

The transcription factor CREB is required for the production of IL-[and of the enzyme cyclo-oxygenase2 or prostaglandin synthase-2 (COX2/PGS-2) in vivo. We show here that CREB may be activated by MSK1/MSK2. Thus, inhibitors of MSK1 may have the effect of inhibitors of IL-1 and/or COX2 and may therefore have the same clinical indications as inhibitors of IL-1 activity and/or COX2.

IL-1 is an inflammatory mediator. COX2 is well known to those skilled in the art as a proinflammatory enzyme that is involved in the synthesis of the proinflammatory signalling molecules prostaglandins from arachidonic acid. Cyclooxygenase 1 (COX1) is a related enzyme that is constitutively expressed, whereas COX2 is expressed early in inflammation as a result of proinflammatory signalling pathways. Inhibitors of COX1, such as aspirin may reduce inflammation, but also have side-effects such as gastrointestinal damage, including ulcers. Much effort has therefore been directed to the development of selective inhibitors of COX2, such as Meloxicam. However, many COX2 inhibitors also have COX1 inhibitory activity.

Selective COX-2 inhibitors may have anti-inflammatory, analgesic and anti-pyretic activities comparable with non-steroidal anti-inflammatories (NSAIDs) which include COX-1 inhibitors, but may avoid the side-effects (for a review, see Botting (1996) Drug News & Perspec 9(2), 123–128).

Inhibitors of MSK1/MSK2 activity or activation (such as the compounds of the invention, discussed above) may therefore be useful in methods of treating the diseases or conditions discussed below in which IL-1, COX2 or prostaglandins have been implicated.

Such diseases and conditions include those in which inflammation or tissue injury is involved. Inflammatory diseases in which COX-2 inhibitors have been investigated include osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis and other rheumatologic and pain indications. Other diseases in which inflammation is involved and in which MSK1/MSK2 inhibitors may be useful include asthma, psoriasis, septic shock and inflammatory bowel disease. Prostaglandins have been implicated in uterine contractions and pain and in labour (see, for example, Pulkkinen (1993) Drugs 46(suppl 1), 129–133 and Slater et al(1995) Am J Obset Gynecol 172(1), 77–82). Further diseases in which MSK1/MSK2 inhibitors may be useful may be listed in WO 96/41645.

A further aspect of the invention is the use of any of the screening methods of the invention in the identification of a molecule that may be useful in treating inflammatory disease.

A further aspect of the invention is the use of any of the screening methods of the invention in the identification of a molecule that may be useful in treating a patient in need of modulation, for example reduction or an increase, in the activity of COX2 or IL-1.

It is believed that a compound identifiable by any of the screening methods of the invention may be useful in treating inflammatory disease. Inflammatory diseases include rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis, septic shock, asthma and inflammatory bowel disease, and other diseases or conditions as discussed above.

Thus, a further aspect of the invention provides a method of treating a patient with an inflammatory disease the method comprising administering to the patient an effective amount of a compound identifiable by the screening methods of the invention, wherein the compound is not a known pyridinylimidazole inhibitor of SAPK2/p38, for example SB203580 or FHPI (4-(4-fluorophenyl)-2-2-(4-hydroxyphenyl)-5-(4-pyridyl)imidazole). The screening methods may identify compounds which either activate or inhibit. Compounds with either activity may be suitable but it is preferred that the compounds may inhibit phosphorylation mediated by MSK1 or MSK2.

A still further invention provides a use of a compound identifiable by the screening methods of the invention in the manufacture of a medicament for treating an inflammatory disease in a patient wherein the compound is not a known pyridinylimidazole inhibitor of SAPK2/p38, for example SB203580 or FHPI (4-(4-fluorophenyl)-2-2-(4-hydroxyphenyl)-5-(4-pyridyl)imidazole).

A further aspect of the invention provides a method of treating a patient a patient in need of modulation, for example reduction or an increase, of the activity of COX2 or IL-1 the method comprising administering to the patient an effective amount of a compound identifiable by the screening methods of the invention, wherein the compound is not a known pyridinylimidazole inhibitor of SAPK2/p38, for example SB203580 or FHPI (4-(4-fluorophenyl)-2-2-(4-hydroxyphenyl)-5-(4-pyridyl)imidazole). The screening methods may identify compounds which either activate or inhibit. Compounds with either activity may be suitable but it is preferred that the compounds may inhibit phosphorylation mediated by MSK1 or MSK2.

A still further invention provides a use of a compound identifiable by the screening methods of the invention in the manufacture of a medicament for treating a patient in need of modulation, for example reduction or an increase, of the activity of COX2 or IL-1, wherein the compound is not a known pyridinylimidazole inhibitor of SAPK2/p38, for example SB203580 or FHPI (4-(4-fluorophenyl)-2-2-(4-hydroxyphenyl)-5-(4-pyridyl)imidazole).

A still further aspect of the invention provides a method of treating a patient a patient in need of modulation, for example reduction or an increase (preferably reduction), of the activity of COX2, the method comprising administering to the patient (1) an inhibitor of the SAPK2/p38 cascade, for example a known pyridinylimidazole inhibitor of SAPK2/p38, for example SB203580 or FHPI (4-(4-fluorophenyl)-2-2-(4-hydroxyphenyl)-5-(4-pyridyl)imidazole) and (2) an inhibitor of the MAPK/ERK cascade, for example PD98059.

A still further aspect of the invention provides a use of (1) an inhibitor of the SAPK2/p38 cascade, for example a known pyridinylimidazole inhibitor of SAPK2/p38, for example SB203580 or FHPI (4-(4-fluorophenyl)-2-2-(4-hydroxyphenyl)-5-(4-pyridyl)imidazole) and (2) an inhibitor of the MAPK/ERK cascade, for example PD98059 in the manufacture of a medicament for treating a patient in need of modulation, for example reduction or an increase, of the activity of COX2.

A still further aspect of the invention provides a use of an inhibitor of the SAPK2/p38 cascade, for example a known pyridinylimidazole inhibitor of SAPK2/p38, for example SB203580 or FHPI (4-(4-fluorophenyl)-2-2-(4-hydroxyphenyl)-5-(4-pyridyl)imidazole) in the manufacture of a medicament for treating a patient in need of modulation, for example reduction or an increase, of the activity of COX2, wherein the patient is, has been or will be administered an inhibitor of the MAPK/ERK cascade, for example PD98059.

A still further aspect of the invention provides a use of an inhibitor of the MAPK/ERK cascade, for example PD98059, in the manufacture of a medicament for treating a patient in need of modulation, for example reduction or an increase, of the activity of COX2, wherein the patient is, has been or will be administered an inhibitor of the SAPK2/p38 cascade, for example a known pyridinylimidazole inhibitor of SAPK2/p38, for example SB203580 or FHPI (4-(4-fluorophenyl)-2-2-(4-hydroxyphenyl)-5-(4-pyridyl)imidazole).

It is further believed that such compounds identifiable by the screening methods of the invention are useful in treating disease in which apoptosis is involved. For example, such compounds may suppress apoptosis, which may aid cell survival during or following cell damaging processes. Examples of such diseases include, but are not limited to, ischaemic disease, for example stroke and myocardial infarction, neural injury and myocardial infarction.

COX-2 may be involved in long-term potentiation and synaptic plasticity, and expression may precede apoptotic cell death and be involved in neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease. Focal ischaemia may induce COX2 expression in cortical neurons that may be particularly likely to die following an ischaemic incident.

Some of the compounds of the invention may aid apoptosis, for example compounds that may lead to increased activation of CREB. Conditions in which aiding apoptosis may be of benefit include resolution of inflammation. Compounds of the invention that lead to decreased activation of CREB or ATF1 may inhibit apoptosis.

Thus, a further aspect of the invention provides a method of treating a patient with an ischaemic disease the method comprising administering to the patient an effective amount of a compound identifiable by the screening methods of the invention, wherein the compound is not a known pyridinylimidazole inhibitor of SAPK2/p38, for example SB203580 or FHPI (4-(4-fluorophenyl)-2-2-(4-hydroxyphenyl)-5-(4-pyridyl)imidazole).

A still further invention provides a use of a compound identifiable by the screening methods of the invention in the manufacture of a medicament for treating an ischaemic disease in a patient, wherein the compound is not a known pyridinylimidazole inhibitor of SAPK2/p38, for example SB203580 or FHPI (4-(4-fluorophenyl)-2-2-(4-hydroxyphenyl)-5-(4-pyridyl)imidazole).

COX2 may be involved in changes in pain perception following tissue injury (hyperalgesia and allodynia), thus inhibitors of MSK1 may be useful in analgesia. COX2 expression may be involved in migraine and therefore inhibitors of MSK1 may be useful in treating migraine. Thus a further aspect of the invention provides a method of treating a patient with migraine or in need of analgesia the method comprising administering to the patient an effective amount of a compound identifiable by the screening methods of the invention.

COX2 may be involved in cancer. Inhibiting COX2 may be useful in preventing or treating cancer. COX2 may promote angiogenesis. Inhibition of COX2 may have anticancer effects, for example in colon cancer, by increasing the level of arachidonic acid that in turn may stimulate the conversion of sphingomyelin to ceramide, which has been suggested as a mediator of apoptosis. Thus MSK1 inhibitors such as compounds of the invention described above may be useful in the treatment or prevention of cancer.

The compounds of the invention may also be useful in the treatment or prevention of Alzheimer's disease. NSAIDs and corticosteroids (also antiinflammatory) have been suggested to be useful in delaying the onset or slowing the progression of Azheimer's disease, even when used in low doses, sufficient for analgesic effect but less than used for antiinflammatory treatment. COX2 expression has been shown to be elevated in Alzheimer's disease brains and in glial cells in response to inflammatory mediators. Overexpression of COX2 in neurons in a transgenic mouse model may lead to (β-amyloid neurotoxicity in vitro, supporting a role for COX2 in Alzheimer's disease. Thus, MSK1 inhibitors may be useful in the treatment or prevention of Alzheimer's disease and other neurodegenerative diseases.

Fos may be involved in cell transformation and malignancy/cancer. Thus a further aspect of the invention provides a method of treating a patient with cancer, the method comprising administering to the patient an effective amount of a compound identifiable by the screening methods of the invention, wherein the compound is not PD98059. It is preferred that the compound is not Ro318220.

A still further aspect of the invention provides a use of a compound identifiable by the screening methods of the invention in the manufacture of a medicament for treating cancer, wherein the compound is not PD98059. It is preferred that the compound is not Ro318220.

The aforementioned compounds of the invention or a formulation thereof may be administered by any conventional method including oral and parenteral (e.g. subcutaneous or intramuscular) injection. The treatment may consist of a single dose or a plurality of doses over a period of time.

Whilst it is possible for a compound of the invention to be administered alone, it is preferable to present it as a pharmaceutical formulation, together with one or more acceptable carriers. The carrier(s) must be “acceptable” in the sense of being compatible with the compound of the invention and not deleterious to the recipients thereof. Typically, the carriers will be water or saline which will be sterile and pyrogen free.

Thus, the invention also provides pharmaceutical compositions comprising the compound identifiable by the screening methods of the invention and a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier, wherein the compound is not PD98059, Ro318220 or a known pyridinylimidazole inhibitor of SAPK2/p38, for example SB203580 or FHPI (4-(4-fluorophenyl)-2-2-(4-hydroxyphenyl)-5-(4-pyridyl)imidazole).

Further aspects of the invention provide a use of a polypeptide (protein kinase) as defined in the first aspect of the invention in a screening assay for compounds which inhibit the activity of the said protein kinase or which block interactions of said protein kinase.

A further aspect of the invention provides a kit of parts that are useful in carrying out the screening methods. Thus a kit of parts may comprise a polypeptide of the invention and a substrate of said polypeptide, for example Crosstide (GRPRTSSFAEG) (SEQ ID NO:16), CREB or CREBtide (EILSRRPSYRK) (SEQ ID NO:18) or a CREB fusion protein, for example GST-CREB or ATF1 or a fusion protein thereof. The kit may alternatively comprise a polypeptide of the invention and a protein useful in activating the polypeptide of the invention as described above, for example MAPK2. The kit may comprise (1) a polypeptide of the invention, (2) a substrate of said polypeptide, as described above and (3) a protein useful in activating said polypeptide, as described above.

The present invention will now be described in more detail with reference to the following Figures and Examples.

FIGURE LEGENDS

FIG. 1. Nucleotide and deduced amino acid sequence of human MSK1. The underlined residues correspond to the kinase domains. The residues shown in bold type (Ser212, Ser360, Ser 377 and Thr581) are putative activating phosphorylation sites. The putative bipartite nuclear localization signal (Robins et al., 1991) between residues 726 to 745 (which is not present in MAPKAP-K1a/b) is denoted with asterisks. The stop Codon is denoted with a solid triangle.

FIG. 2. Alignment of the amino acid sequences of MSK1 with closely related kinases. The alignment was carried out using the Clustal W program (Thompson et al., 1994). Identical residues are shaded in black. (A) Alignment of MSK1 with human MAPKAP-K1 isoforms. The residues corresponding to the key activating phosphorylation sites on MAPKAP-K1a (Ser222, Ser364, Ser381 and Thr 574) are marked with asterisks. (B) Alignment of the N-terminal (MSK1-N) and C-terminal (MSK1-C) kinase domains of MSK1 with the kinase domains of MAPKAP-K2/3 and MNK1. There is no significant homolgy in the non catalytic regions of these kinse. (C) Alignment of human MSK1 with partial mouse (mMSK2) and human MSK2 sequences. The putative activating phosphorylation sites are indicated with asterisks.

FIG. 3. Expression and purification of GST-MSK1 and its activation by MAPK2/ERK2 and SAPK2. (A) GST-MSK1 (2 μg protein) and GST-MAPKAP-K1a (2 μg protein) purified from unstimulated and TPA stimulated cells were electrophoresed on a 7.5% SDS-polyacrylamide gel and stained with Coomassie blue. The position of the molecular mass markers, β-galactosidase (116 kDa) and glycogen phosphorylase (97 kDa) are shown. The activity of each protein was assayed using the peptide substrate Crosstide (GRPRTSSFAEG) (SEQ ID NO:16). (B) GST-MSK1 or (C) GST-MAPKAP-K1a derived from unstimulated cells was incubated with either MAPK2/ERK2 (8 U/ml, open circles), SAPK2b/p38β (1 U/ml, closed squares), SAPK3/p38γ (1 U/ml, open triangles) or SAPK4/p38δ (1 U/ml, closed triangles), 10 mM Mg(Ac)₂ and 100 μM unlabelled ATP in Buffer B. At the times indicated, aliquots were removed, diluted 10-fold in Buffer B containing 1 mg/ml BSA, and assayed for activity towards Crosstide. In parallel experiments the activity of MAPK2/ERK2, and all the SAPK enzymes except SAPK1/JNK1(were assayed using myelin basic protein. SAPK1/JNK1(was assayed using ATF2 (data not shown). The results are presented as ±SEM for six determinations (two independent experiments). The error for each point is <15%. (D) GST-MSK1 was incubated with MAPK2/ERK2 and SAPK enzymes as above except that ([³²P]ATP was used. After 20 min, the reactions were terminated by the addition of SDS, the samples electrophoresed on a 7.5% polyacrylamide gel and the Coomassie Blue-staining bands corresponding to GST-MSK1 autoradiographed. Similar results were obtained in 2 separate experiments.

FIG. 4. Generation of antibodies that immunoprecipitate MSK1 specifically. (A) Activated GST-MSK1 purified from TPA stimulated 293 cells (50 μl at 1.0 U/ml) was incubated for 30 min at 4° C. on a shaking platform with protein G-Sepharose beads (5 μl) coupled to the indicated antibodies (5 μg) in the presence or absence of the indicated peptide immunogens (1 mM), and then centrifuged for 1 min at 13,000×g. The beads were washed as described in Materials and Methods and assayed for activity towards Crosstide. (B) and (C) As for A, except that activated GST-MAPKAP-K1a derived from TPA stimulated 293 cells (B) or MAPKAP-K1b (C) were immunoprecipitated with the indicated antibodies, and the washed immunoprecipitates were assayed for activity towards Crosstide.

FIG. 5. Activation of endogenous MSK1 by TPA, EGF and cellular stresses. 293 cells were serum starved for 16 h, and then incubated in the presence of 50 μM PD 98059 (open bars), 10 (M SB 203580 (speckled bars) or the absence of either compound (solid bars) for 1 h. The cells were either left unstimulated (control) or stimulated with TPA (200 ng/ml, 10 min), EGF (100 ng/ml, 10 min), sodium arsenite (0.5 mM, 30 min) exposed to UV radiation (200 J/m² then left for 30 min at 37° C.) or H₂O₂ (2 mM, 30 min) in the continued presence or absence of inhibitors. The cells were lysed and MSK1 (A), MAPKAP-K1a/b (B) or MAPKAPK2 (C) was immunoprecipitated from the same lysate and assayed. The data are presented as the mean±SEM for two separate experiments with each determination carried out in triplicate.

FIG. 6. Effect of mutation of MSK1 on activation by TPA and UV in 293 cells. 293 cells were transiently transfected with DNA constructs expressing Flag epitope tagged wild type MSK1, N-terminal (NT) “kinase dead” MSK1 and C-terminal (CT) “kinase dead” MSK1. The cells were incubated for 1 h with 50 μM PD 98059, 10 μM SB 203580 or in the absence of either compound. They were then stimulated for 10 min with TPA (200 ng/ml) or exposed to UV radiation (200 J/m² then left for 30 min at 37° C.) in the continued presence or absence of inhibitors. The cells were lysed and the MSK1 was immunoprecipitated from the lysates and assayed with Crosstide. The data are presented as the mean±SEM for three separate experiments with each determination carried out in triplicate (B) 2 μg of protein from each lysate was electrophoresed on a 10% SDS/polyacrylamide gel and immunoblotted using monoclonal Flag-antibody. No immunoreactive MSK1 protein was observed in untransfected cells (data not shown). The Flag epitope-tagged MSK1 comigrates with glycogen phosphorylase (apparent mass 97 kDa).

FIG. 7. MSK1 is mainly localised in the nucleus of cells and MAPKAP-K1a in the cytosol. 293 cells expressing N-terminally Flag epitope tagged wild type MSK1 or N-terminally HA epitope-tagged MAPKAP-K1a were incubated in serum free medium for 16 h and then either left unstimulated, or stimulated with TPA (100 ng/ml, 10 min) before formaldehyde fixation, sectioning and immunogold labelling for the appropriate tag (Flag for MSK1 (A+B) and HA for MAPKAP-K1a (C). Quantitation of the concentration of MSK1 or MAPKAP-K1a in the nucleus (Nuc) and cytoplasm (Cyt) of cells was carried out as described in materials and methods. The results show that TPA stimulation has no detectable effect on MSK1 or MAPKAP-K1a localisation. Data is from three independent experiments. For MSK1 controls n=9, 9 and 14; for TPA n+10, 11 and 15. For MAPKAP-K1a controls total n=22; for TPA total n=9 (excluding cells with extensive clumps of immunoreactive material in the cytoplasm). Bars represent standard error of the mean calculated according to Cochran (1953). (C) Selected samples for MSK1 (C, unstimulated and D, TPA) and for MAPKAP-K1a (E, unstimulated) are shown to illustrate structures and labelling distributions. Bar is 500 nm.

FIG. 8. MSK1 phosphorylates CREB at Ser133. (A) Comparison of the substrate specificities of MSK1, MAPKAP-K1a and MAPKAP-K1b towards the indicated peptides and CREB. Phosphorylation and analysis was carried out as described in Materials and Methods. The standard errors for all reported kinetic constants were within <+20% (SEM), and the data is reported as mean values for 2 independent experiments. The Vmax values are reported as a percentage of the value obtained using Crosstide (GRPRTSSFAEG, peptide 1 (SEQ ID NO:16)) as a substrate. The peptide EILSRRPSYRK (SEQ ID NO:18) corresponding to residues 126–136 of CREB is termed CREBtide. The serine residues shown in bold correspond to the phosphorylated serine residues on the peptides. The Vmax values of MSK1, MAPKAP-K1a and MAPKAP-K1b towards Crosstide are 200 U/mg, 350 U/mg, and 800 U/mg respectively. (B) GST-MSK1 (solid bars), GST-MAPKAPK-1a (open bars), MAPKAP-K-1b (speckled bars) or GST-MAPKAP-K2 (diagonal bars) were assayed with the indicated substrates. Under the conditions used GST-MAPKAP-K2 phosphorylated Ser98 of 341 amino acid splice variant of CREB (Gonzalez et al., 1989) to a 10-fold higher level than Ser133 (data not shown). The phosphorylation of CREB by MAPKAP-K2 shown in the figure is corrected to show only the contribution of Ser133 phosphorylation to the total incorporation of phosphate into CREB. The data are presented as the mean±SEM for three separate experiments with each determination carried out in triplicate (C)CREB that had been phosphorylated with MSK1 was digested with trypsin and chromatographed on a Vydac 218TP54 C18 column (Separations Group, Hesperia, Calif.) equilibrated in 0.1% (v/v) trifluoroacetic acid (TFA) in water. The column was developed with a linear acetonitrile gradient (diagonal line) at a flow rate of 0.8 ml/min and fractions of 0.4 ml were collected. 75% of the radioactivity applied to the column was recovered from the major ³²P-containing peptide at 13% acetonitrile (the remainder of the radioactivity eluted as numerous minor peaks). The peptide map of CREB phosphorylated with MAPKAP-K1b was identical to that of CREB phosphorylated with MSK1 (data not shown).

FIG. 9. Effect of Ro 318220 on the activity of MSK1. (A) Effect of Ro 318220 on GST-MSK1 (closed circles), mixed PKC isoforms (open circles) GST-MAPKAP-K1b and MAPKAP-K2 (open triangles) in vitro. The results are presented relative to control incubations in which the inhibitor was omitted and are shown as the average of 2 experiments with each determination carried out in triplicate. The error for each point is ±10%. (B) 293 cells were pre-treated for 1 h with 5 μM Ro 318220 (Ro) or in the absence of inhibitor (−), before being exposed to UV radiation (200 J/m²) or left untreated (−) and then incubated for a further 30 min in the continued presence of Ro 318220. The cells were lysed MAPKAP-K2 was immunoprecipitated and assayed. The data are presented as the mean±SEM for two separate experiments with each determination carried out in triplicate. (C) as above except that 293 cells were incubated for 2 h in 32phosphate (0.1 mCi/ml) before treatment with inhibitors. Cells were then exposed to either UV radiation (200 J/m2) or left untreated (−), incubated for a further 20 min in the continued presence of inhibitors. Following cell lysis, HSP27 was immunoprecipitated from cell extracts (Cuenda et al., 1995) run on a 15% polyacrylamide gel and autoradiographed.

FIG. 10. Ro 318220 inhibits EGF and UV induced phosphorylation of CREB. 293 cells were pre-treated either in the presence or absence of 5 μM Ro 318220 (Ro), 10 μM SB 203580 (SB), 50 μM PD 98059 (PD), and then exposed to either (A, D) UV radiation (200 J/m², 30 min and then 30 min at 37° C.) (B, E) EGF (100 ng/ml, 15 min), (C) forskolin (20 μM, 15 min). The cells were lysed and proteins were separated on 10% acrylamide gels and immunoblotted using a phosphospecific antibody that recognised both CREB and ATF1 when phosphorylated on Ser133 and Ser63 respectively. The position of CREB and ATF1 on the blots is indicated.

FIG. 11. Activation of MSK1 by TNF. HeLa cells were incubated for 2 h in serum free medium in the presence of 50 μM PD 98059 (solid circles), 10 μM SB 203580 (open triangles), 50 μM PD 98059 plus 10 μM SB 203580 (solid triangles) or in the absence of both compounds (open circles). The cells were then stimulated with TNF (10 ng/ml) for the times indicated in the continued presence or absence of inhibitors, lysed and MSK1 (A), MAPKAP-K2 (B), and MAPKAP-K1a/b (C) immunoprecipitated from the same lysate and assayed. The data are presented as the mean±SEM for two separate experiments with each determination carried out in triplicate.

FIG. 12. Effect of PD 98059, SB 203580 and Ro 318220 on TNF induced CREB phosphorylation. HeLa cells were incubated for 2 h in serum free medium in the presence or absence of 50 μM PD 98059 (PD), 10 μM SB 203580 (SB) and 5 μM Ro 318220 (Ro) as indicated. The cells were then stimulated with TNF (10 ng/ml) for the times indicated in the continued presence or absence of inhibitors, lysed and the samples immunoblotted for phosphorylation of CREB and ATF1 as described in the legend to FIG. 11C. The position of CREB and ATF1 on the blots is indicated. The time of exposure (exp) of the blots before development is indicated.

FIG. 13. Effect of PD 98059, SB 203580 and Ro 318220 on NGF-induced activation of CREB and MSK1 in PC12 cells. PC12 cells were incubated for 2 h in serum free medium in the presence or absence of 50 μM PD 98059 (PD) or 10 μM SB 203580 (SB). The cells were then stimulated with NGF (30 ng/ml) for 15 min in the continued presence or absence of inhibitors. After cell lysis aliquots were immunoblotted for phosphorylation of CREB (A) or used to assay MSK1 (B) or used MAPKAP-K1 (C) after their immunoprecipitation from the lysates.

FIG. 14. Effect of PD 98059, SB 203580 and Ro 318220 on arsenite and FGF-induced activation of CREB and MSK1 in SK-N-MC cells. SK-N-MC cells were incubated for 1 h in serum free medium in the presence or absence of 50 μM PD 98059 (PD), 10 μM SB 203580 (SB) and 5 μM Ro 318220 (Ro). The cells were then stimulated for 15 min with sodium arsenite (0.5 mM) or FGF (50 ng/ml) in the continued presence or absence of inhibitors. After cell lysis aliquots were assayed for either MSK1 (A), MAPKAP-K1 (B), MAPKAP-K2 (C) after their immunoprecipitation from the lysates or immunoblotted for phosphorylation of CREB and ATF1 (D).

FIG. 15. Effect of PD 98059, SB203580 and Ro 318220 on LPS-induced activation of CREB and MSK1 in RAW macrophages. RAW 264 macrophages were incubated for 2 h in serum free medium, then for 1 h in the presence or absence of 50 μM PD 98059 (PD), 10 μM SB203580 (SB), or 5 μM Ro 318220 (Ro). The cells were then stimulated with LPS (100 ng/ml) for 1 h in the continued presence or absence of inhibitors. After cell lysis aliquots were assayed for either MSK1 (A), MAPKAP-K1 (B), MAPKAP-K2 (C) after their immunoprecipitation from the lysates or immunoblotted for phosphorylation of CREB and ATF1 (D).

FIG. 16. Amino acid and nucleotide sequences of human MSK2 and a splice variant of human MSK2.

FIG. 17. Activation of MSKI and MSK2 by LPS in RAW 264 macrophages. Macrophages were stimulated for the times indicated with (open symbols) and without (closed symbols) 100 ng/ml LPS. MSK1 activity (A) or MSK2 activity (B) were then measured after immunoprecipitation from the lysates. The results are presented as the mean±SEM for two determinations from two separate dishes. Similar results were obtained in two further experiments.

FIG. 18. Effect of inhibitors on the LPS-induced activation of protein kinases in RAW 264 macrophages. Macrophages were incubated for 1 h in the presence or absence 10 μM UO 126 (U) and/or 10 μM SB 203580 (SB), or 5 TM Ro 318220 (Ro), then stimulated for 1 h with or without 100 ng/ml LPS in the continued presence or absence of the inhibitors. MSK1(A), MSK2 (B), MAPKAP-KI (C) and MAPKAP-K2 (D) were then assayed after immunoprecipitation from the lysates. The results are presented as the mean±SEM for two determinations from two separate dishes. Similar results were obtained in two further experiments.

FIG. 19. LPS-induced CREB and ATF1 phosphorylation in RAW264 macrophages. (A) Macrophages were stimulated for the times indicated with LPS (100 ng/ml). After cell lysis, aliquots of the lysate (30 Tg protein) were denatured in SDS, electrophoresed on a 10% polyacrylamide gel, transferred to a nitrocellulose membrane, and immunoblotted with a phospho-CREB antibody. The positions of the molecular mass markers glycogen phosphorylase (97 kDa), bovine serum albumin (66 kDa), ovalbumin (43 kDa) and carbonic anhydrase (30 kDa) are indicated. Similar results were obtained in three further experiments. (B) As in A, except that the macrophages were incubated for 1 h in the presence or absence of 50 TM PD 98059 and/or 10 TM SB 203580 (SB), or 5 TM Ro 318220 (Ro), then stimulated for 1 h in the absence or presence of 100 ng/ml LPS and in the continued presence or absence of the inhibitors. Similar results were obtained in three further experiments.

FIG. 20. LPS-stimulated induction of COX2 protein in RAW264 macrophages. (A) Macrophages were stimulated for the times indicated with LPS (100 ng/ml). After cell lysis, aliquots of the lysate (30 Tg protein) were immunoblotted with a COX-2 antibody (see legend to FIG. 19 for details and molecular mass markers). Similar results were obtained in three further experiments. (B) As in A, except that the macrophages were incubated for 1 h in the presence or absence of 50 TM PD 98059 (PD) and/or 10 TM SB 203580 (SB), or 5 TM Ro 318220 (Ro), then stimulated for 4 h in the absence or presence of 100 ng/ml LPS and in the continued presence or absence of the inhibitors. Similar results were obtained in three further experiments.

FIG. 21. Effect of PD 98059 and SB 203580 on gene transcription in RAW 264 macrophages. (A) Cells were stimulated for the times indicated with LPS (100 ng/ml). Total RNA was extracted at each time point and mRNA encoding IL-1, COX-2 and HRPT was determined using the reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (Section 2.6). (B) As in A, except that the macrophages were incubated for 1 h in the presence or absence of PD 98059 (50 TM) and/or SB 203580 (10 TM), or Ro 318220 (5 TM), then stimulated for 3 h in the absence or presence of LPS, and in the continued presence or absence of the inhibitors. RTPCR was performed using oligonucleotides encoding fragments of IL-1, COX-2 and HPRT. Similar results were obtained in two further experiments.

FIG. 22. Effect of forskolin on CREB phosphorylation and COX-2 induction in RAW264 macrophages. (A) Macrophages were stimulated for 1 h with LPS (100 ng/ml) or for 15 min with forskolin (F) (20 TM) plus IBMX (10 TM). After cell lysis, aliquots of the lysate (30 Tg protein) were immunoblotted with a phospho-specific CREB antibody (see legend to FIG. 19 for details and molecular mass markers). (B) Macrophages were stimulated for 3 h with LPS (100 ng/ml), or forskolin (20 TM) plus IBMX (10 TM), and immunoblotting performed with a specific COX-2 antibody (materials & methods section). The marker proteins are as in FIG. 19. Similar results were obtained in two further experiments.

EXAMPLE 1 Mitogen and Stress Activated Protein Kinase (MSK1), a Novel Two-Kinase Domain Enzyme That is Directly Activated by MAPK and SAPK2/p38 and Which may Mediate the Activation of CREB

We have identified a novel mitogen and stress-activated protein kinase (MSK1) and a closely related homologue (MSK2) that contain two protein kinase domains in a single polypeptide. MSK1 (802 residues) displays 43% overall amino acid sequence identity to MAP kinase-activated protein kinase-1 (MAPKAP-K1, also termed p90 RSK) another “two kinase domain” enzyme. The N-and C-terminal kinase domains of MSK1 are 54% and 44% identical to the corresponding domains in MAPKAP-K1, and the four key activating phosphorylation sites in MAPKAP-K1 are conserved in MSK1. Like MAPKAP-K1, MSK1 is activated in vitro by MAPK2/ERK2 but, unlike MAPKAP-K1, it is also activated by stress-activated protein kinase2a (SAPK2a, also termed p38) and SAPK2b/p38β2. Consistent with these findings, endogenous MSK1 is activated in 293 cells by either polypeptide growth factor/phorbol ester stimulation or by exposure to UV radiation, oxidative and chemical stress, whereas MAPKAP-K1 is only activated significantly by growth factor/phorbol ester stimulation. The activation of MSK1 by growth factor/phorbol ester stimulation is prevented by the drug PD 98059, which suppresses activation of the MAPK cascade, while the activation of MSK1 by UV radiation, oxidative and chemical stress is largely prevented by SB 203580, a specific inhibitor of SAPK2a/p38 and SAPK2b/p38β. In HeLa cells, both PD 98059 and SB 203580 are required to suppress the activation of MSK1 by TNF, NGF and FGF, respectively, because this agonist activates both the MAPK/ERK and the SAPK2/p38 cascades. The activation of MSK1 is abolished by making single inactivating mutations in either the N-terminal or C-terminal kinase domain. MSK1 is localised in the nucleus of unstimulated or stimulated cells, whereas MAPKAP-K1a is largely cytosolic under the same conditions. MSK1 phosphorylates the transcription factor CREB at Ser133 with a Km value far lower than PKA, MAPKAP-K1 and MAPKAP-K2. A peptide corresponding to the sequence surrounding Ser133 is phosphorylated with a remarkably low Km value (<0.1 μM). The effects of SB 203580, PD 98059 and Ro 318220 on agonist-induced activation of CREB and ATF1 in four cell lines mirror the effects of these inhibitors on MSK1 activation and exclude a role for MAPKAP-K2, MAPKAP-K3 and MAPKAP-K1 in this process. These findings together with other observations, suggest that MSK1 may mediate the growth factor and stress-induced activation of CREB.

Results

Identification of MSK1 as a novel MAPKAP-K1 related kinase. We used the DNA sequence encoding the N-terminal kinase domain of MAPKAP-K1 to interrogate the NCBI EST database. This search identified one EST (AA1 158571) encoding a full length cDNA clone of a novel member of this subfamily, hereafter termed MSK1. The open reading frame encoded a protein of 802 amino acids with a molecular mass of 89.9 kDa. There is a stop codon immediately 5′ to the predicted initiating ATG codon. The MSK1 polypeptide domain possessed two protein kinase domains (FIG. 1) both of which contained the eleven subdomains characteristic of all protein kinases (Hanks et al., 1988). MSK1 showed greatest similarity to the three isoforms of the MAPKAP-K1, which also possess two kinase domains (FIG. 2A). The N terminal and C-terminal kinase domains of MSK1 were 54% and 44% identical to the corresponding kinase domains of MAPKAP-K1. The overall identity between MAPKAP-K1 and MSK1 was 43%. We identified 14 human EST clones encoding fragments of MSK1 that are derived from many tissues (Table 1), indicating that MSK1 is a widely expressed enzyme.

TABLE 1 Genbank accession numbers for human MSK1 ESTs Tissue from which EST derives AA314565, AA305163 colon carcinoma AA134359, AA134358 colon AA699729, R11235, T97584, T97538, R11183 fetal liver spleen W04930 fetal lung AA158572, AA158571 pancreas AA322270 cerebellum H09985, HO 9986, F05701, HSC0jE081 infant brain N31641, N57096 placenta AA255846, AA255996 germinal centre B cell AA897221 mixed Genbank accession numbers for mouse MSK1 ESTs AA472165 mammary gland AA389168, AA061016 embryo AA444366 heart Genbank accession numbers for human MSK2 ESTs H41647 adult brain R17109 fat cell T19765 cardiovascular system R71969, AA631897, AA505842 breast tumor AA443601 ovary tumor AA678670 Gessler Wilms tumor AA5706681 prostate tumor AA594559, AA576979, AA568895 colon tumor AA857431 pharynx carcinoma Genbank accession numbers for mouse MSK2 ESTs AA472165 mammary gland AA389168 embryo AA061016 fetus AA657108 myotubes AA267490 lymph node AA444366 heart

Northern blot analysis of human tissues revealed that MSK1 was expressed as a 4 kb transcript in all tissues examined (heart, brain, placenta, lung, liver, kidney and pancreas) with the highest levels observed in brain, muscle and placenta (data not shown). An alignment of the N and C-terminal kinase domains of MSK1 with other protein kinases that are activated by MAPK family members is shown in FIG. 2B.

We also found EST cDNA clones (Table 1) encoding a further protein kinase whose amino acid sequence was 75% identical to MSK1, but also only 40% identical to MAPKAPK1, and which we have termed MSK2. The near full length coding sequence of murine MSK2 and the partial sequence of human MSK2 aligned with MSK1 are presented in FIG. 2C. The murine and human MSK2 sequences share 90% amino acid sequence identity. We identified 8 human EST cDNA clones encoding fragments of MSK2 that were derived from a number of cells and tissues. Six of these were tumour cell lines. Northern Blot analysis of human tissues revealed that MSK2 was expressed as a 3 kb transcript with a similar distribution to that of MSK1 (results not shown).

Activation of MSK1 in vitro by MAPK2/ERK2 and SAPK2/p38. The four key activating phosphorylation sites present in MAPKAP-K1a (see Introduction) are conserved in MSK1 and MSK2 (FIG. 2). Two of the four sites in MAPKAP-K1 (Ser 360 and Thr 581), which are followed by proline residues, are phosphorylated by MAPK (FIG. 2C). These observations suggested that MSK1 and MSK2 may be activated by one or more MAPKs. In order to compare the activation of MSK1 and MAPKAP-K1a by MAPKs, both enzymes were expressed in human embryonic kidney 293 cells as fusion proteins with glutathione S-transferase (GST) at the amino terminus (hereafter termed GST-MSK1 and GST-MAPKAP-K1a). Both proteins were purified on glutathione-Sepharose and showed a single major Coomassie Blue-staining band when subjected to SDS/polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (FIG. 3A). The apparent molecular mass of GST-MSK1 estimated by SDS/polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (116 kDa), was slightly larger than GST-MAPKAP-K1a (FIG. 3A) which is consistent with the latter enzyme being 62 amino acids shorter (FIG. 2A).

MAPKAP-K1 is known to have a high activity towards the peptide named Crosstide (GRPRTSSFAEG) (SEQ ID NO:16) (Alessi et al., 1996a). GST-MSK1 and GST-MAPKAP-K1a purified from 293 cells that had been serum starved overnight possessed a low activity towards this substrate (2-4 U/mg), which was enhanced over 100-fold by incubation with MgATP and activated MAPK2/ERK2 (FIGS. 3B and 3C). GST-MSK1 could also be activated similarly by SAPK2a/p38 and SAPK2b/p38β (FIG. 4A), whereas MAPKAP-K1a could not(FIG. 3C). SAPK1/JNK1γ and SAPK3/p38β did not activate either GST-MSK1 or GST-MAPKAP-K1a. SAPK4/p38δ was a weak activator of GST-MSK1 and did not activate GST-MAPKAP-K1a. The ability of MAPK2/ERK2 (data not shown) and SAPK2/p38 (FIG. 3D) to activate GST-MSK1 correlated with the extent of phosphorylation of this enzyme.

Endogenous MSK1 is activated in vivo by EGF and TPA through the MAPK/ERK pathway and by stressful stimuli through the SAPK2/p38 pathway. The experiments presented in FIG. 3 raised the possibility that MSK1 might be activated in response to stimuli that activate the SAPK2/p38 isoforms, as well as stimuli that activate the classical MAPK/ERK cascade. In order to examine this possibility three MSK1 antibodies were raised, one against residues 26 to 44 (antibody “A”), a second against residues 384 to 402 (antibody “B”) and a third against residues 716 to 734 (antibody “C”). All three antibodies immunoprecipitated MSK1 quantitatively (not shown) and immunoprecipitation of expressed MSK1 (FIG. 4A) or endogenous MSK1 in cell lysates (not shown) was prevented by incubation with the appropriate peptide immunogen.

The MAPKAP-K1 antibody used in this study immunoprecipitates both MAPKAP-K1a and MAPKAP-K1b (FIGS. 4B and 4C, Alessi et al., 1995), but did not immunoprecipitate MSK1 (FIG. 4A). Furthermore, non of the MSK1 antibodies immunoprecipitated MAPKAP-K1a or MAPKAP-K1b (FIGS. 4B and 4C). The peptide sequence used to raise MSK1 antibody “A” is not conserved in MSK2, and the 19 residue peptides used to raise antibodies “B” and “C” possess only 9 and 12 conserved residues with MSK2 respectively. All three MSK1 antibodies immunoprecipitated similar levels of MSK1 activity in both 293 cells exposed to EGF, TPA or stresses, or in HeLa cells stimulated with TNF (data not shown). These results indicate that MSK2 is not co-immunoprecipitated with MSK1.

Endogenous MSK1 was immunoprecipitated with antibody “A” from the lysates of 293 cells previously stimulated with EGF, 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol 13-acetate (TPA) or exposed to cellular stresses (sodium arsenite, UV radiation or hydrogen peroxide). These experiments demonstrated that MSK1 was potently activated by all of these stimuli (FIG. 5A). Interestingly, the activation of MSK1 by EGF and TPA was largely prevented by PD 98059, a specific inhibitor of the activation of MAP kinase kinase-1 (Alessi et al., 1995), but not by SB 203580, a specific inhibitor of SAPK2a/p38 and SAPK2b/p38β, (Cuenda et al., 1995). In contrast, the activation of MSK1 by stressful stimuli was largely inhibited by SB 203580, but not by PD 98059 (FIG. 5A). Identical results were obtained when antibody “B” or antibody “C” were used instead of antibody “A” (data not shown).

EGF and TPA stimulation of cells potently activated MAPKAP-K1a/b in 293 cells and, like the activation of MSK1, this was largely suppressed by PD 98059, but not by SB 203580 (FIG. 5B). Stressful stimuli did not induce significant activation of MAPKAP-K1a/b (FIG. 5B) but induced a large activation of MAPKAP-K2 that was prevented by SB 203580, but not by PD 98059 (FIG. 5C). MAPKAP-K2 was not activated significantly by EGF or TPA (FIG. 5C).

The activation of MSK1 by TPA and UV radiation requires both kinase domains. In order to establish which kinase domain of MSK1 was required for its activation in vivo, we transfected 293 cells with DNA expression constructs encoding wild type MSK1 (WT-MSK1), a mutant MSK1 in which the N-terminal kinase domain should be inactivated by a point mutation (NT kinase-dead MSK1) and a further mutant in which the C-terminal kinase domain should be inactivated (CT kinase-dead MSK1). All the constructs possessed an N-terminal “flag” tag (see Methods) to enable their immunoprecipitation and assay from cell lysates. Stimulation of the cells with TPA or exposure to UV radiation induced 200-fold and 30-fold activation of the wild type MSK1, respectively. Similar to the results with the endogenous MSK1, the activation of transfected MSK1 by TPA was prevented by PD 98059 but not by SB 203580, while the UV-induced activation was prevented by SB 203580 but unaffected by PD 98059 (FIG. 6A). The transfected, wild type enzyme was also activated 50-100 fold by EGF, basic FGF and serum, and activation was prevented by PD 98059 but not SB 203580 (data not shown). These observations confirm the results obtained by immunoprecipitation of the endogenous protein kinase; ie that MSK1 can be activated in cells by either the classical MAP kinase cascade or via the SAPK2a/p38 pathway.

In contrast neither the NT kinase dead mutant nor the CT-kinase dead mutant of MSK1 possessed detectable activity either before or after cell stimulation with TPA or exposure to UV radiation (FIG. 6A). Both the “kinase dead” MSK1 mutants were expressed at the same level as the wild type MSK1 protein (FIG. 6B). These observations also establish that the MSK1 activity measured in FIG. 6 is due to MSK1 itself and not a contaminant kinase that is co-immunoprecipitated with MSK1.

MSK1 is localised in nuclei and MAPKAP-K1a in the cytoplasm. The subcellular location of wild type MSK1 that was overexpressed in 293 cells was investigated by quantitative immunoelectron microscopy (FIG. 7). MSK1 was largely located in the nucleus of unstimulated cells. The density of MSK1 in the nuclear compartment was 12 to 30-fold higher than in the cytoplasm (FIGS. 7A and 7C). Activation of MSK1 by stimulation with TPA (FIGS. 7A and 7D) or by exposure to UV radiation (data not shown) did not induce any change in the subcellular location of MSK1. MSK1 possesses a putative bipartite nuclear localization signal (Robins et al., 1991) between residues 726 to 748 (FIG. 1) which is not present in MAPKAP-K1a/b. Consistent with this observation MAPKAP-K1a, when overexpressed in cells, was largely localised in the cytoplasm (FIG. 7B). Moreover, no significant translocation of MAPKAP-K1a to the nucleus was observed following TPA stimulation of cells (FIGS. 7B and 7E) which induces 100-fold activation of this kinase (data not shown).

MSK1 is an extremely efficient CREB kinase in vitro. The substrate specificities of MSK1 and MAPKAP-K1a were compared after expression of the GST fusion proteins in 293 cells, followed by TPA stimulation and purification from the cell lysates (FIG. 3A). The specific activity of GST-MSK1 at a saturating concentration of Crosstide (GRPRTSSFAEG (SEQ ID NO:16), Peptide 1 FIG. 8A) was found to be similar to that of MAPKAP-K1a (see legend to FIG. 8). The Km for Crosstide was 2–3 μM for MSK1, MAPKAP-K1a or MAPKAP-K1b. Crosstide is phosphorylated efficiently by MAPKAP-K1 because it contains two arginies located three and five residues N-terminal to the serine that is phosphorylated. For this reason, the peptide KKRNRTLSVA (SEQ ID NO:17) (Peptide 2, FIG. 8A) is phosphorylated by MAPKAP-K1a/b with almost identical Km and Vmax values as for Crosstide. This peptide was found to be phosphorylated even more efficiently by MSK1, the Km value being 0.2 μM. Changing the arginine at position n-3 in KKRNRTLSVA (SEQ ID NO:17) to lysine (Peptide 3 FIG. 8A) increased the Km about 100-fold for MSK1, as well as for MAPKAP-K1a/b. However, changing the arginine at position n-5 to leucine (Peptide 4 FIG. 8A) did not increase the Km for MSK1 significantly, although the Km for MAPKAP-K1a/b was increased five fold. These experiments indicate that MSK1 requires an arginine at position n-3, but not a basic residue at n-5.

It has been reported that MAPKAP-K1b (Xing et al., 1996) and MAPKAP-K2 (Tan et al., 1996) mediate the activation of the transcription factor CREB by growth factors and stressful stimuli, respectively. In view of the predominantly nuclear localisation of MSK1, it was therefore of interest to compare the efficiency with which it phosphorylated CREB compared to these other protein kinases. These experiments led to the surprising finding that CREB is an astonishingly good substrate for MSK1, being phosphorylated with a Km of 2 μM and with a Vmax similar to Crosstide or KKRNRTLSVA (SEQ ID NO:17). In contrast, CREB was phosphorylated by PKA with a Km of 17 μM under the same conditions (data not shown), while the Km was too high to be measured when phosphorylation was catalysed by MAPKAP-K1a/b (FIG. 8A) or MAPKAP-K2 (data not shown). As a result, when the activities of MSK1, MAPKAP-K1a/b and MAPKAP-K2 were matched towards Crosstide and/or the peptide KKLNRTLSVA (SEQ ID NO:35), the rate of phosphorylation of 5(M CREB by MSK1 was 30-fold higher than MAPKAP-K1a, 12-fold higher than MAPKAP-K1b and 60-fold higher than MAPKAP-K2 (FIG. 8B). In contrast, MAPKAP-K2 was much more active towards heat shock protein 27 (one of its physiological substrates, Cuenda et al., 1995) than MSK1 or MAPKAP-K1a/b (FIG. 8B).

The residue on CREB phosphorylated by MSK1 was established by tryptic digestion, followed by chromatography of the digest on a C 18 column. One major ³²P-labelled peptide was observed that eluted at 15% acetonitrile (FIG. 8C). This peptide contained phosphoserine, and when subjected to solid phase sequencing, ³²P-radioactivity was released after the third cycle of Edman degradation (data not shown). Its identity was established by MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry which revealed that the molecular weight of the peptide (758.33) was identical to that of the expected tryptic phosphopeptide comprising residues 131–135 and phosphorylated at Ser133 (calculated mass 758.36). MAPKAP-K1b, which is known to phosphorylate the same residue (Xing et al., 1996), labelled the same tryptic peptide as MSK1 (data not shown).

Consistent with the results obtained with the CREB protein, a synthetic peptide (termed CREBtide) corresponding to residues 126 to 136 of CREB (EILSRRPSYRK (SEQ ID NO:18), peptide 5, FIG. 8A) was phosphorylated with a Km value too low to be measured (<0.1 μM). In contrast, MAPKAP K1a and MAPKAP-K1b phosphorylated this peptide rather poorly with Km values that were at least 200-fold higher (FIG. 8A).

Evidence that MAPKAP-K2 does not mediate the phosphorylation of CREB and ATF1 by UV radiation or EGF in 293 cells. The staurosporine analogue Ro 318220 inhibits all the PKC isoforms (Davis et al., 1989) as well MAPKAP-K1a/b, with IC₅₀ values ranging from 10 to 30 nM (Alessi 1997, FIG. 9A). In the present work, Ro 318220 was found to be an equally potent inhibitor of MSK1 activity in vitro (FIG. 9A). Ro 318220 does not significantly inhibit MAPKAP-K2 in vitro even at 10 μM (FIG. 11A), nor does it affect the activation of MAPKAP-K2 in vivo in response to UV radiation (FIG. 9B). Furthermore, incubation of cells with Ro 318220 did not significantly affect the UV induced phosphorylation of HSP27, a physiological substrate for MAPKAP-K2 (Cuenda et al., 1995, FIG. 9C). In parallel experiments, the phosphorylation of HSP27 by UV radiation was blocked by SB203580. The cyclic AMP dependent protein kinase which mediates phosphorylation of CREB and ATF1 induced by agonists which increase cyclicAMP levels such forskolin (Gonzalez and Montminy 1989) is also not significantly inhibited by 10 μM Ro 318220 (Davis et al., 1989)

The results presented in FIG. 9 offered an opportunity to evaluate the role of MAPKAP-K2 in mediating the phosphorylation of CREB at Ser133 (and its close relative ATF1 at Ser63). We observed that CREB and ATF1 became rapidly phosphorylated following exposure of 293 cells to UV radiation or following treatment with EGF, and that phosphorylation was largely inhibited by 5 μM Ro 318220 (FIGS. 10A and 10B). In contrast phosphorylation of CREB and ATF1 induced by forskolin, which induces CREB phosphorylation through the cyclic AMP dependent protein kinase (Gonzalez et al., 1989), was unaffected by 5 μM Ro 318220 (FIG. 10C). Like the activation of MSK1, the UV radiation-induced phosphorylation of CREB and ATF1 was inhibited by SB 203580, but not by PD 98059 (FIG. 10D), while EGF-induced CREB phosphorylation was prevented by PD 98059 and not SB203580 (FIG. 10E).

Evidence that neither MAPKAP-K2 or MAPKAP-K1 mediated the phosphorylation of CREB and ATF1 by TNF in HeLa cells. Endogenous MSK1 was rapidly (but transiently) activated by tumour necrosis factor (TNF) in HeLa cells. Interestingly, the effect of SC 203580 and PD 98059 on the activation of MSK1 varied with the time of stimulation. After 5 min, activation was completely inhibited by SB 203580, but unaffected by PD 98059. However, after 15 min the activation of MSK1 was partially blocked by either SB 203580 or PD 98059, and almost completely suppressed if both drugs were added together (FIG. 11A). These observations are explained by the different rates of activation of the SAPK2/p38 and MAPK/ERK cascades. Thus, after 5 min of TNF stimulation, the SAPK2 pathway is activated as judged by the activation of MAPKAP-K2 (which is inhibited by SB 203580 but not by PD 98059). In contrast, the MAPK/ERK cascade is not activated after 5 min, as judged by lack of activation of MAPKAP-K1a/b (FIGS. 11B and 11C). However, both the MAPK/ERK and SAPK2/p38 cascades are activated after 15 min of TNF stimulation, as judged by the activation of both MAPKAP-K1a/b and MAPKAP-K2. The activation of MAPKAP-K1a/b after 15 min is suppressed by PD 98059, but not by SB 203580 (FIGS. 11B and 11C).

Stimulation of HeLa cells with TNF rapidly induced the phosphorylation of CREB and ATF1. After 5 min, the phosphorylation of CREB and ATF1 was prevented by SB 203580 but unaffected by PD 98059 (FIG. 12A). After 15 min, TNF-induced phosphorylation of CREB was partially suppressed by SB 203580, slightly suppressed by PD 98059 and completely prevented in the presence of both compounds (FIG. 12B). The effects of SB 203580 and PD 98059 on the activation of CREB were therefore similar to their effects on TNF-induced MSK1 activation (FIG. 11). TNF-induced CREB phosphorylation was completely blocked by 5 μM Ro 318220 (FIG. 12C), but the activation of MAPKAP-K2 was unaffected by this drug (data not shown).

Evidence that CREB phosphorylation as Ser133 in PC12 cells correlates with activation of MSK1 rather than MAPKAP-K1 or MAPKAP-K2. NGF stimulation of a PC12 cell line induced the phosphorylation of CREB (FIG. 13A) and the activation of MSK1 (FIG. 13B). The phosphorylation of CREB and the activation of MSK1 were not significantly affected by incubation of the cells with either PD98059 or SB 203580, but strongly inhibited in the presence of both drugs (FIG. 13). These results indicate that inhibition of both the MAPK/ERK and SAPK2/p38 pathways is needed to prevent CREB phosphorylation at Ser133 and MSK1 activation in these cells, and this is considered further under Discussion.

Like MSK1, MAPKAP-K1 was also activated five-fold by NGF but, in contrast to MSK1, activation of MAPKAP-K1 was unaffected by SB 203580, only partially inhibited by PD 98059 and not further inhibited by a combination of both drugs. Thus MAPKPA-K1 activity did not correlate with CREB phosphorylation. As reported previously (Rouse et al., 1994) NGF did not induce any significant activation of MAPKAP-K2 activation in PC23 cells. Moreover, NGF-induced CREB phosphorylation was suppressed by 5 μM Ro 318220 (data not shown), again excluding a role for MAPKAP-K2/K3.

Evidence that CREB phosphorylation at Ser 133 in SK-N-MC cells correlates with activation of MSK1 rather than MAPKAP-K1 or MAPKAP-K2. Earlier work from this laboratory showed that the phosphorylation of CREB at Ser133 in SK-N-MC cells, induced by either sodium arsenite or FGF, is suppressed by SB 203580 (Tan et al., 1996). In the present work we confirmed that the sodium arsenite-induced activation of CREB and MSK1 in these cells is prevented by SB 203580, but not by PD 98059. However, the FGF-induced phosphorylation of CREB was only inhibited slightly by either SB 203580 or PD 98059 and the presence of both drugs was needed to completely suppress CREB phsophorylation (FIG. 14D). Similarly, the FGF-induced activation of MSK1 in these cells is also only partially suppressed in the presence of either SB 203580 or PD 98059 and prevented in the presence of both compounds (FIG. 14A).

In contrast to MSK1, the activation of MAPKAP-K2 by sodium arsenite and FGF was completely prevented by SB203580 but not by PD 98059 (FIG. 14C) and Ro 318220 (which does not affect the activation or activity of MAPKAP-K2) largely suppressed phosphorylation of CREB at Ser133. These findings indicate that MAPKAP-K2 activity is not rate-limiting for CREB phosphorylation at Ser133. To avoid any confusion it should be noted that Ro 318220 is a reversible inhibitor of MSK1 activity and does not affect MSK1 activation in cells (FIG. 14A). Once the cells have been lysed and MSK1 immunoprecipitated from the lysates, the Ro 318220 inhibitor has been removed, thus MSK1 is no longer inhibited.

In contrast to MSK1, the activation of MAPKAP-K1 by FGF was abolished by PD 98059 but not by SB 203580 (FIG. 14B). However, PD 98059 (in the absence of SB 203580) did not significantly suppress the phosphorylation of CREB at Ser133.

Bacterial endotoxin stimulates MKS1 and CREB phosphorylation in the RAW 264 mouse macrophage cell line. As shown in FIG. 15, LPS stimulation of RAW 264 macrophages leads to MSK1 and CREB/ATF1 phosphorylation. 50 μM PD 98059 or 10 (M SB203580 appear to inhibit the phosphorylation of MSK1 and of CREB/ATF1.

Discussion.

We here present the sequence of a novel, widely expressed protein kinase, termed MSK1 (FIG. 1), and the nearly complete sequence of a close relative, MSK2 (FIGS. 2 and 16 and Table 1). MSK1 and MSK2 are most similar (40% overall amino acid sequence identity) to the isoforms of MAPKAP-K1, which they also resemble in possessing two protein kinase domains within a single polypeptide (FIG. 2). The N-terminal kinase domain of MAPKAP-K1 phosphorylates exogenous substrates, while the only known role of the C-terminal domain is to activate the N-terminal domain (see Introduction). The importance of the C-terminal kinase domain of MAPKAP-K1 is indicated by the finding that an inactivating mutation suppresses the activation of the N-terminal kinase domain by 85–90% (Leighton et al., 1996). In contrast, an inactivating mutation in the C-terminal kinase domain of MSK1 (like an inactivating mutation in the N-terminal kinase domain) completely abolishes activation (FIG. 8). If it is assumed that the mechanism of activation of MSK1 is analogous to that of MAPKAP-K1, as suggested by the conservation of the four key phosphorylation sites (FIG. 2), then this indicates that the C-terminal kinase domain of MSK1 is essential for activation of the N-terminal domain. MSK1 is activated in vivo by either the MAPK/ERK cascade or the SAPK2/p38 pathway. This was established by the finding that PD 98059 largely suppresses the activation of endogenous or transfected MSK1 by growth factors and phorbol esters, while SB 203580 suppresses activation induced by exposure to UV radiation or oxidative stress (FIG. 5 and FIG. 6). Consistent with these findings, MSK1 can be activated in vitro by either MAPK2/ERK2 or by SAPK2/p38 (FIG. 3). Several signals, such as TNF in HeLa cells (FIG. 110, FGF in SK-N-MC cells (FIG. 14) and NGF in PC12 cells (FIG. 13) activate both the MAPK2/ERK2 and SAPK2/p38 cascades, and both signalling pathways contribute to the activation of MSK1 in these cells. Why MSK1 and MNK1 (Fukunaga & Hunter, 1997 and Waskiewicz et al., 1997) can be activated in vitro by both MAP kinase family members while MAPKAP-K1 can only be activated by MAPK2/ERK2 is unclear. Presumably, MAPKAP-K1 either lacks a motif required for recognition by SAPK2/p38 or contains a motif that prevents recognition by these enzymes.

The finding that MSK1 is activated in vivo by signals that trigger activation of the MAPK/ERK cascade or the SAPK2/p38 pathway implies that, like MNK1, it plays a role in integrating the effects of different extracellular signals. The substrates of MSK1 are therefore likely to be proteins that become phosphorylated in response to both mitogenic and stress signals. Two such proteins are the transcription factors CREB and ATF1 (see Introduction), and we have found that CREB is a remarkably good substrate for MSK1 in vitro (FIG. 8). MSK1 phosphorylates CREB only at Ser133, the activation site that becomes phosphorylated in vivo in response to mitogens or stress signals. The Km for phosphorylation of CREB by MSK1 is much lower than for phosphorylation by PKA<MAPKAP-K1 or MAPKAP-K2 (FIG. 8). MSK1 phosphorylates CREBtide at the equivalent residue and with a remarkably low Km value estimated to be below 0.1 μM (FIG. 8A). To our knowledge, this is the lowest Km for any peptide substrate of any protein kinase that has so far been identified. These observations suggest that MSK1 (and/or MSK2) may mediate the activation of CREB by mitogenic and stress stimuli, and the nuclear location of MSK1 (FIG. 7) is consistent with such a role.

MAPKAP-K2 may mediate the activation of CREB by stress signals or FGF in the neuronal cell line SK-N-MC (Tan et al., 1996). However, in the present work, neither the activation of MAPKAP-K2 in vivo nor its activity in vitro (FIGS. 9 and 14) were affected by Ro 318220 up to 10 μM; yet 5 μM Ro 318220 suppressed CREB phosphorylation at Ser133 in response to all the signals that activate MAPKAP-K2 in SK-N-MC cells and other cell lines (FIGS. 10, 12 and 14). In addition, we have found that MAPKAP-K2 phosphorylates the alternatively spliced CREB2 variant (Gonzalez et al., 1989) much more rapidly at Ser98 than at Ser133, but no phosphorylation of CREB at Ser98 is observed after stimulation by agonists that activate MAPKAP-K2 strongly. These results demonstrate that MAPKAP-K2/K3 activity is not rate-limiting for stress-induced activation of CREB activation in SK-N-MC cells. The only other protein kinase known to be activated by stressful stimuli and which phosphorylates CREB at Ser133 is MSK1. MSK1 phosphorylates CREB far more efficiently than MAPKAP-K2 in vitro (FIG. 8) and is potently inhibited by Ro318220 (FIG. 9). For these reasons, MSK1 (and/or MSK2) is currently the best candidate to mediate the stress-induced CREB phosphorylation at Ser133.

MSK1 and MAPKAP-K1 are both activated by MAPKs/ERKs after cell stimulation by growth factors or phorbol esters, they both phosphorylate CREB at Ser133 and they are both inhibited potently by Ro 318220. This raises the question of whether growth factor/phorbol ester induced activation of CREB is mediated by MSK1 or a MAPKAP-K1 isoform. It has been reported that MAPKAP-K1b is a much more efficient CREB kinase than MAPKAP-K1a (Xing et al., 1996) and that MAPKAP-K1b is the major CREB kinase detectable in lysates prepared from NGF-stimulated PC 12 cells (Ginty et al., 1994; Xing et al., 1996). However, in our hands, MAPKAP-K1a and MAPKAP-K1b phosphorylated CREB or CREBtide with similar kinetics (FIG. 8) and neither was remotely as efficient as MSK1 (FIG. 8).

Furthermore, there are numerous examples where the major protein kinase detected biochemically has subsequently been shown not to be the relevant enzyme in vivo towards a particular substrate. For example, MAPKAP-K1 is the major insulin-stimulated protein kinase in extracts prepared from L6 myotubes that phosphorylates and inactivates glycogen synthase kinase-3 (Cross et al., 1994), and yet subsequent work using PD 98059 excluded its involvement in this process (Cross et al., 1995). The reason why MSK1 was not detected previously by biochemical analysis may be due to the much lower abundance of MSK1 activity compared to the MAPKAP-K1 and MAPKAP-K2 activities in the cells examined. The low abundance of MSK1 activity in cells compared with MAPKAP-K1 and MAPKAP-K2 may explain why MSK1 activity was not detectable by previous biochemical analysis (Xing et al., 1996 and Tan et al., 1996).

Recently Xing et al., (1998) have reported that both SB 203580 and PD 98059 are required to prevent the NGF-induced phosphorylation of CREB in PC12 cells. We have confirmed this observation (FIG. 13A) and also demonstrated that NGF activates MSK1 in these cells (FIG. 13 B). Like the phosphorylation of CREB, the activation of MSK1 by NGF is only significantly inhibited in these cells in the presence of both SB 203580 and PD 98059. These observations indicate that activation of either the MAPK/ERK cascade or the SAPK2/p38 pathway is sufficient to produce maximal activation of MSK1 and CREB phosphorylation at Ser 133. In contrast, the NGR-induced activation of MAPKAP-K1 isoforms is unaffected by SB 203580 and only partially inhibited by PD 98059 (in the absence or presence of SB 203580). Thus MAPKAP-K1 isoforms alone cannot account for the NGF-induced phosphorylation of CREB at Ser133.

The phosphorylation of CREB at Ser133 also correlated much better with the activation of MSK1 in TNF-stimulated HeLa cells (compare FIGS. 11 and 12) and FGF-treated SK-N-MC cells (FIG. 14). In both situations, the MAPK and SAPK2/p38 pathways were activated and suppression of CREB phosphorylation at Ser133, as well as the activation of MSK1, required the presence of both SB 203580 and PD 98059. In SK-N-MC and HeLa cells, PD 98059 completely suppressed the activation of MAPKAP-K1 by FGF and TNF, respectively, but only had a small effect on CREB phosphorylation induced by these agonists.

In summary, while a role for one or more MAPKAP-K1 isoforms (or an as yet unidentified protein kinase) in the activation of CREB by growth factors/phorbol esters cannot be entirely excluded, our results suggest that MSK1 (and/or MSK2) mediates the activation of CREB by these stimuli.

Materials and Methods

Materials. Peptides for protein kinase assays were synthesised at Dundee by Mr. F. B. Caudwell (MRC unit), and those used to used to raise antibodies were synthesized by Dr G. Blomberg (University of Bristol, U.K.). Protein G-Sepharose and glutathione Sepharose was purchased from Pharmacia (Milton Keynes, UK), alkylated trypsin from Promega (Southampton, UK), tissue culture reagents, microcystin-LR, and EGF, Life Technologies Inc. (Paisley, UK), 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol 13-acetate (TPA) from Sigma-Aldrich (Poole, Dorset, UK), sodium arsenite and hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂, Aristar grade) from E. Merck (Lutterworth, UK), SB 203580 and PD 98059 from Calbiochem (Nottingham, UK) and the pCR 2.1-TOPO cloning vector from Invitrogen (Leek, Netherlands). Activated GST-MAPK2/ERK2 (Alessi et al., 1994), GST-SAPK1/JNK1((Lawler et al., 1997), GST-SAPK2a/p38a, GST-SAPK2b/p38β and GST-SAPK3/p38γ (Cuenda et al., 1997), GST-SAPK4/p38δ (Goedert et al., 1997), GST-MAPKAP-K2 (Ben-Levy et al., 1995) and GST-MAPKAP-K3 (Clifton et al., 1996) were expressed in bacteria and maximally activated in vitro using the appropriate upstream kinase kinase as described previously. MAPKAP-K1b was purified from rabbit skeletal muscle by Dr N. Morrice in the MRC Unit as previously described (Sutherland et al., 1993). GST-MAPKAP kinase-2 was expressed in bacteria and activated in vitro using GST-MAPK as described previously (BenLevy et al., 1995). PKA was prepared from bovine heart as known to those skilled in the art.

Antibodies. The MSK1 “A”, MSK1 “B” and MSK “C” antibodies were raised in sheep against the peptides LTVKHELRTANLTGHAEKV (SEQ ID NO:14) (corresponding to residues 26 to 44 of MSK1), FKRNAAVIDPLQFHMGVER (SEQ ID NO:15) (corresponding to residues 384 to 402 of MSK1) and KATFHAFNKYKREGFCLQN (SEQ ID NO:19) (corresponding to residues 716 to 734 of MSK1) respectively. Antibodies that immunoprecipitate MAPKAP-K2 specifically (Clifton et al., 1996), or both MAPKAP-K1a and MAPKAP-K1b (Alessi et al., 1995) were raised in sheep against the peptides KEDKERWEDVKEEMTS (SEQ ID NO:20) (residues 343–358 of human MAPKAP-K2) and RNQSPVLEPVGRSTLAQRRGIKK (SEQ ID NO:21) (residues 712 to 734 of human MAPKAP-K1b). All the antibodies used in this study were affinity-purified on CH-Sepharose columns to which the appropriate peptides were coupled covalently, and are available commercially from UBI (Lake Placid, USA). A monoclonal antibody recognising the Flag epitope was purchased from Anachem (Luton, UK), a rabbit polyclonal antibody recognizing HSP27 was purchased from Stressgen (York, UK).

Buffer solutions. Buffer A—50 mM Tris-HCl pH 7.5, 1 mM EGTA, 1 mm EDTA, 1% (by mass) Triton-X 100, 1 mM sodium orthovanadate, 50 mM sodium fluoride, 5 mM sodium pyrophosphate, 0.27 M sucrose, 1 (M microcystin-LR, 0.1% (by vol) (β-mercaptoethanol and “complete” proteinase inhibitor cocktail (one tablet per 50 ml Boehringer Mannheim, Lewes, UK).

Buffer B—50 mM Tris-HCl pH 7.5, 0.1 mM EGTA, 10 mM β-mercaptoethanol.

Cloning of MSK1 and MSK2. The sequence of MSK1 was obtained by sequencing the human EST cDNA (AA15 8571) obtained from the I.M.A.G.E. consortium (Lennon et al., 1996). The mouse and human MSK2 sequences were obtained from sequencing some of the EST cDNA clones shown in Table 1. The mouse MSK2 sequence was obtained by sequencing EST inserts: AA472165; AA389168. The human MSK2 sequence was obtained by sequencing EST inserts: H46268; AA568895. DNA sequencing was carried out on an Applied Biosystems 373A automatic DNA sequencer using the Taq dye terminator cycle sequencing kit.

Preparation of DNA expression constructs encoding GST-MSK1, Flag-MSK1 and GST-MAPKAP-K1a. A DNA construct expressing human MSK1 with the FLAG DYKDDDDK epitope tag at the N-terminus (Flag-MSK1) was prepared as follows:—A PCR reaction was carried out using, as a template, the MSK1 cDNA and the oligonucleotides (SEQ ID NO:22) 5′GAGATCTGCCACCATGGACTACAAGGACGACGATGACAAGGAGGAGGAGGGTGGCAGCAGCGGCG-3′ (incorporating a BglII site which is underlined) and 5′-GGATCCATTTCTGTGAACTCTTCTG-3′(SEQ ID NO:23). The resulting PCR product was ligated into pTopo vector. A triple ligation was then set up to generate a full length FLAG-MSK 1 construct in the pCMV5 mammalian expression (Anderson et al., 1989) vector by excision of the N-terminal MSK1 PCR product from the pTopo vector as an EcoR1-EcoRV fragment and ligating this together with the C-terminal EcoRV-KpnI fragment of MSK1 into the EcoR1-KpnI sites of the pCMV5 vector. A GST-MSK1 expression construct was prepared by subcloning the Flag-MSK1 cDNA from the pCMV5 vector as a BglII-KpnI fragment into the BamHI and KpnI sites of the pEBG2T (Sanchez et al., 1994) expression vector. Full length Flag MSK1 mutants (in the pCMV5 vector) in which either the N-terminal or C-terminal kinase domains have been inactivated were prepared by changing the conserved Asp195 and Asp565 residues in subdomain VII of the kinase domain to Ala. This was achieved using the PCR-based megaprimer strategy. A GST-MAPKAP-K1a expression construct was prepared by subcloning of HA-MAPKAP-K1a from the pGEX4T.1 vector described in (Dalby et al., 1998) as a NotI—NotI fragment into the NotI site of the pEBG2T expression vector. The structures of all of the expression constructs were verified by DNA sequencing, after purification from bacteria using Quiagen plasmid Mega kit according to the manufacturer's protocol.

Expression of GST-MSK1 and GST-MAPKAP-K1a. Twenty 10 cm diameter dishes of human embryonic kidney 293 cells were cultured and each dish transfected with 20 μg of DNA encoding either GST-MSK1 or GST-MAPKAP-K1a using a modified calcium phosphate method (Alessi et al., 1996b). 24 h after transfection, the cells were serum starved for 16 h and either left unstimulated or stimulated with TPA (200 ng/ml, 15 min) and each dish of cells lysed in 1 ml of ice-cold Buffer A. The 20 lysates were pooled, centrifuged at 4° C. for 10 min at 13,000×g and the supernatant incubated for 60 min on a rotating platform with 1 ml of glutathione-Sepharose previously equilibrated in Buffer A. The suspension was centrifuged for 1 min at 3000×g, the beads washed three times with 10 ml of Buffer A containing 0.5 M NaCl, and then a further three times with 10 ml of Buffer B containing 0.27 M sucrose. GST-MSK1 or GST-MAPKAP-K1a were eluted from the resin at ambient temperature with three 1 ml portions of Buffer B containing 20 mM glutathione and 0.27 M Sucrose. The combined eluates (0.5 mg/ml protein for GST-MSK1, and 0.1 mg/ml GST-MAPKAP-K1a) were divided into aliquots, snap frozen in liquid nitrogen, and stored at −80° C.

Cell Culture, stimulation and cell lysis. Human embryonic kidney 293 cells and HeLa cells were cultured to confluence and incubated for 16 h in Dulbecco's Modified Eagle's Medium from which foetal calf serum was omitted. HeLa and SK-N-MC cells were cultured to confluence on 10 cm diameter dishes and incubated for 2 h in Dulbecco's Modified Eagle's Medium from which foetal calf serum was omitted. PC12 cells expressing high levels of the NGF receptor which start to differentiate within a few hours of addition of NGF were cultured and incubated for 2 h in Dulbecco's Modified Eagle's Medium from which foetal calf serum was omitted (Rouse et al., 1994). Due to the high levels of the NGF receptor in these cells the PD 98059 inhibitor only partially suppresses the NGF-induced activation of MAPK (Alessi et al., 1995). The cells were then incubated for the times indicated in the figure legends with 50 μM PD 98059, 10 μM SB 203580, 5 μ Ro 318220 or the equivalent volume of DMSO as a control, stimulated as indicated in the figure legends and the cells lysed in 1.0 ml of ice cold Buffer A. The lysates were frozen immediately in liquid nitrogen and stored at −80° C. until use. Protein concentrations were determined (Bradford et al., 1976) using bovine serum albumin as a standard.

Immunoprecipitation and assay of MSK1, MAPKAP-K2 and MAPKAP-K1. The amount of cell lysate used for each immunoprecipitation was: MSK1 (500 μg protein), MAPKAP-K2 (50 μg protein) and MAPKAP-K1a/b (50 μg protein). The lysates were incubated at 4° C. for 30 min on a shaking platform with 5 μg of each antibody coupled to 5 μl of protein G-Sepharose. The immunoprecipitates were washed twice with 1 ml of Buffer A containing 0.5 M NaCl, and once with 1 ml of Buffer B. The standard MSK1 or MAPKAP-K1a/b assay (50 μl) contained: washed Protein G-Sepharose immunoprecipitate, 50 mm Tris/HCl pH 7.5, 0.1 mM EGTA, 0.1% (by vol) 2-mercaptoethanol, 2.5 μM PKI (peptide inhibitor of cyclic-AMP-dependent protein kinase), Crosstide (30 μM), 10 mM Mg(Ac)₂ and 0.1 nM [(³²P]ATP (100–200 cpm/pmol). The assays were carried out for 10 min at 30° C., the assay tubes being agitated continuously to keep the immunoprecipitate in suspension, then terminated and analysed as described (Alessi et al., 1994). MAPKAP-K2 was assayed in the same way except that the peptide KKLNRTLSVA (SEQ ID NO:35) (30 μM) was used as substrate. One unit of activity was that amount of enzyme which catalysed the phosphorylation of 1 nmol of peptide substrate in 1 min.

Expression of CREB. The E. coli strain BL21, transformed with a DNA construct encoding the 341 amino acid splice variant of CREB (Gonzalez et al., 1989), kindly provided to us by M. J. Comb (New England Biolabs, Boston, USA), were induced with 0.3 mM isopropyl-(-D-thiogalactoside for 5 h at 37° C. The GST-CREB was purified on glutathione-Sepharose as described previously for GST-MAPK2/ERK2 (Alessi et al., 1994), and dialysed against Buffer B containing 50% glycerol and stored at −20° C. The preparation showed two major bands at 62 kDa and 43 kDa as well as a number of minor bands. Only the 62 kDa and the 43 kDa bands were phosphorylated by MAPKAP-K1 and MSK1. The protein concentration of CREB was estimated by comparing the intensity of the 62 kDa and 43 kDa bands relative to a bovine serum albumin standard.

Immunoblotting for phosphorylated CREB and ATF1. Cell extracts were prepared and immunoblotting of these carried out as described (Tan et al., 1996) using a phosphospecific antibody recognizing CREB phosphorylated on Ser 133 and ATF1 phosphorylated on Ser63 purchased from UBI (Lake Placid, USA). Detection of phosphorylated CREB and ATF1 proteins was performed using the enhanced chemiluminescence reagent (Amersham).

Phosphorylation of CREB and HSP27 by MSK1 and MAPKAP-K1a/b (see FIG. 8). MSK1 and MAPKAP-K1a expressed as GST fusion proteins were purified from TPA stimulated 293 cells (FIG. 3) and MAPKAP-K1b was purified from rabbit skeletal muscle (Sutherland et al., 1993). The peptides indicated in FIG. 8 as well as CREB and HSP27 were incubated at 30° C. with 2 U/ml GST-MSK1, GST-MAPKAP-K1a or GST-MAPKAP-K1b in Buffer B containing 10 mM Mg(Ac)₂, 100 (M [(³²P]ATP (1×10⁶ cpm/nmole), 10 μM PKI and 1 (M microcystin-LR. After incubation for 10 min incorporation of phosphate into peptides was determined using P81 phosphocellulose paper (Alessi et al., 1994), and the incorporation of phosphate into CREB and HSP27 was measured by addition of trichloroactetic acid (0.2 vol of 100%), and the sample was then incubated for 1 h on ice. The suspension was centrifuged for 10 min at 13,000×g, the supernatant discarded and the pellet washed five times with 0.2 ml of ice cold water. The ³²P-radioactivity incorporated was then determined by Cerenkov counting. In order to map the site in CREB phosphorylated by MSK1 and GST-MAPKAP-K1b, the pellet was resuspended in 0.3 ml of 50 mM Tris/HCl pH 8.0, 0.1% (by vol) reduced Triton-X 100 containing 2 μg of alkylated trypsin, after incubation for 16 h at 30° C., the digest centrifuged for 5 min at 13,000×g. The supernatant, containing 95% of the ³²P-radioactivity, was chromatographed on a Vydac C18 column as described in the legend to FIG. 8. Michaelis constants (Km) and Vmax values were determined from double reciprocal plots of 1/V against 1/S, where V is the initial rate of phosphorylation, and S is the substrate concentration.

Transfection of MSK1 into 293 cells. 293 cells were cultured on 10 cm diameter dishes and transfected with the pCMV5 vector encoding the Flag epitope tagged MSK1 constructs using a modified calcium phosphate method (Alessi et al., 1996b). 24 h post-transfection, the cells were deprived of serum for 16 h, stimulated with TPA or exposed to UV radiation, the cells were then lysed in 1 ml of ice cold Buffer A, centrifuged at 13,000×g for 5 min, and the Flag tagged MSK1 protein immunoprecipitated from aliquots of lysate (containing 25 μg protein) using 2 μg of FLAG antibody coupled to 5 (1 of Protein G-Sepharose.

Immunoprecipitates were incubated, washed and assayed for MSK1 activity as described above.

Immunoelectron Microscopy. Cells were fixed in 8% paraformaldehyde in 0.2M Pipes pH 7.2 for at least one day, scraped using a rubber policeman and embedded as a pellet in 10% pig skin gelatin. Blocks were soaked in 2.1 M sucrose/PBS for at least 15 minutes before mounting on iron stubs and freezing in liquid nitrogen. Ultrathin cryosections were then prepared on an Reichert Ultracut E cryomicrotome at −100° C. and mounted on carbon/formvar coated grids. Grids were incubated first on 0.5% fish skin gelatin/PBS (5 min), followed by anti FLAG mouse monoclonal antibodies (15(g/ml); then rabbit antimouse antibodies (2 μg/ml Southern Biotechnology Associates Inc. Birmingham Ala., USA) and lastly on protein A-8 nm gold complex prepared as previously described (Lucocq 1993). PBS washes followed each of the affinity reagents which were themselves diluted in 0.5% fish skin gelatin/PBS. Finally, after washes in distilled water the sections were contrasted in methyl cellulose/uranyl acetate.

Labelling was quantified as follows. At a magnification of 15,000×micrographs were taken of labelled cell profiles possessing both cytoplasm and nucleus (these nuclear weighted sections allowed data from these compartments in individual cells to be compared). Cytoplasm and nuclear areas were estimated using point counting with a square lattice grid of 1 cm line spacing and gold labelling counted (Lucocq, 1994). Coefficients of error were calculated according to Cochran 1953.

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EXAMPLE 2 Alternative Assays

A Scintillation Proximity Assay (SPA) system (Amersham International) is used to assess the incorporation of ³²P radioactivity into CREB or CREBtide. In this system, the sample is mixed with beads comprising scintillant and antibodies that bind CREB or CREBtide. Conveniently this is done in a 96-well format. The plate is then counted using a suitable scintillation counter, using known parameters for ³²P SPA assays. Only ³²P that is in proximity to the scintillant, i.e. only that bound to CREB or CREBtide that is then bound by the antibody, is detected.

EXAMPLE 3 Assay for Compounds which Modulate MSK1 Activity

An assay is set up with CREB, as described in Example 1 or Example 2. Compounds are tested in the assay and those that give rise to inhibition or activation of MSK1 are selected for further study. To confirm that any effects observed are not due to effects on CREB, compounds are tested for effects on the ability of MSK1 to phosphorylate another substrate such as a peptide substrate, for example Crosstide, that is structurally dissimilar to CREB. Those compounds that have similar effects on the phosphorylation of CREB and the peptide substrate are selected. Compounds may also be tested for effects on activated and inactive CREB.

EXAMPLE 4 Assay for Polypeptides that Interact with MSK1

A yeast two hybrid assay system is set up to identify polynucleotides encoding polypeptides that are capable of associating with MSK1 in a stable enough manner to allow transcriptional activation to occur. The polynucleotides are (in separate experiments) cDNAs copied from mRNA from cells that are capable of expressing MSK1, before or after stimulation capable of activating MSK1, and from cells which do not express MSK1. Interactions which are found in a subset only of these cell types are of particular interest.

The polypeptide encoded by the polynucleotide is determined by sequencing the insert by the Sanger method as described in Example 1 to obtain a predicted amino acid sequence.

EXAMPLE 5 Role of MAP Kinase Cascades in Mediating Induction of Cyclooxygenase-2 and Interleukin-1 by Lipopolysaccharide in RAW 264 Macrophages

Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) stimulation of RAW264 macrophages triggered the activation of mitogen and stress-activated protein kinases-1 and −2 (MSK1, MSK2) and their putative substrates, the transcription factors CREB and ATF1. The activation of MSK1/MSK2 was prevented by preincubating the cells with a combination of two drugs that suppress activation of the classical MAP kinase cascade and SAPK2a/p38, respectively, but inhibition was only partial in the presence of either inhibitor. The LPS-stimulated activation of CREB and ATF1, the transcription of the cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) and interleukin-1J genes (whose promoters contain a CRE), and the induction of the COX-2 protein, were prevented by the same drug combination, as well as by Ro 318220, a potent inhibitor of MSK1/MSK2. Our results demonstrate that two different MAP kinase cascades are rate limiting for the LPS-induced activation of CREB/ATF1, and transcription of the COX-2 and IL-1 genes. They also suggest that MSK1/MSK2 may play an important role in these processes and hence are attractive targets for novel anti-inflammatory drugs.

Materials and Methods

Materials. Reagents and antibiotics for cell culture were purchased from Life Technologies (Paisley U.K.), PD 98059 from New England Biolabs (Baverly, USA), Ro 318220 and SB 203580 from Calbiochem (Nottingham, U.K.), forskolin and 3-isobutyl-1-methylxanthine (IBMX) from Sigma (Poole, U.K.), “complete” proteinase inhibitor cocktail from Boehringer (Lewes, U.K.), affinity-purified polyclonal goat anti-COX-2 antibody from Santa Cruz Biotechnology (Santa Cruz, Calif.), affinity-purified polyclonal rabbit anti-phospho-CREB from Upstate Biotechnology Inc. (Lake Placid, N.Y.), [K-³²P]-ATP and ECL reagent from Amsterdam (Bucks, UK), RNeasy Mini Kit from QIAGEN Ltd (West Sussex, U.K.) and the access RT-PCR System from Promega (Southampton, U.K.). Murine RAW 264 macrophages were obtained from the European Cell Culture Collection (Wilts, UK), while LPS and U0126 were gifts from Dr. John Lee (SmithKline Beecham, Pa. USA) and Dr Sue Cartlidge (Zeneca Pharmaceuticals, Cheshire, U.K.).

Cell culture and stimulation. RAW 264 macrophages were maintained in a 95% air/5% CO₂ atmosphere in Dulbecco's modified Eagle's medium (DMEM) plus 10% (v/v) heat-inactivated foetal calf serum, 100 U/ml penicillin, 100 mg/ml streptomycin. The day before stimulation, the macrophages were plated at a density of 2×10⁶ cells per 6 cm plate and 2 h before stimulation, the medium removed and replaced with 2 ml of DMEM. The cells were then stimulated with 100 ng/ml LPS, or 20 TM forskolin plus 10 TM IBMX, for the times indicated in the figure legends. Where indicated, SB 203590 (10 TM) and/or PD 98059 (50 Tm), or U0126 (10 TM) or Ro 318220 (5 TM), were added 1 h before stimulation.

Cell lysis. After stimulation, the medium was aspirated and the cells were solubilized in 0.2 ml of ice cold lysis buffer (50 mM Tris-acetate pH 7.0, 1 mM EDTA, 1 mM EGTA, 1% (w/v) Triton X-100, 1 mM sodium orthovanadate, 10 mM sodium glycerophosphate, 50 mM NaF, 5 mM sodium pyrophosphate, 0.27 M sucrose, 2 TM microcystin-LR, 1 mM benzamidine, 0.1% (v/v) 2-mercaptoethanol and “complete” proteinase inhibitor cocktail—one tablet per 50 ml). The samples were then snap frozen in liquid nitrogen and stored in aliquots at −80° C. until analysis. Protein concentrations were determined according to [7].

Immunoblotting. For immunoblotting of CREB, nuclear cell extracts were prepared as described [2] and immunoblotting performed using a phospho-specific antibody recognising CREB phosphorylated on Ser 133 and ATF1 phosphorylated on Ser 63. For immunoblotting of COX-2, cell lysate (30 Tg protein) was denatured in SDS, electrophoresed on 10% polyacrylamide gel, transferred to a nitrocellulose membrane, and immunoblotted with anti-COX-2 antibody (1.0 mg/ml). Detection of phosphorylated CREB and ATF1 and COX-2 was performed using the enhanced chemiluminescence reagent (ECL).

Immunoprecipitation and assay of protein kinases. All antibodies were raised as described in Example 1. MSK2 was immunoprecipitated from cell lysates (1 mg protein) with an antibody raised against the peptide RAPVASKGAPRRANGPLPPS corresponding to residues 753–772 of MSK2. The immunoprecipitates were washed and assayed at 30° C. as described in Example 1. One unit of MSK1 or MSK2 activity was defined as that amount which catalyses the incorporation of 1 nmol of phosphate into the peptide GRPRTSSFAEG in 1 min. MAP kinase-activated protein (MAPKAP-K1, also known as p90RSK) was immunoprecipitated from cell lysates (50 Tg protein) with an antibody raised against the peptide RNQSPVLEPVGRSTLAQRRGIKK corresponding to residues 605–627 of murine MAPKAP-K1b (RSK2 isoform). This antibody immunoprecipitates MAPKAP-K1a (RSK1) as well as MAPKAP-K1b [8]. The immunoprecipitates were washed and assayed at 30° C. as described [8]. One unit of MAPKAP-K1 activity was defined as that amount which catalyses the incorporation of 1 nmol of phosphate into [G245,G246]S6-(218–249)] (a peptide closely related to the C-terminus of ribosomal protein S6) in 1 min. MAPKAP-K2 was immunoprecipitated in an identical manner to MAPKAP-K1 using an antibody raised against the peptide MTSALATMRVDYEQIK corresponding to residues 356–371 of the human protein. This antibody immunprecipitates MAPKAP-K3, as well as MAPKAP-K2 [9]. MAPKAP-K2 was assayed as described [10] and one unit was that amount of enzyme which catalyses the incorporation of 1 nmol of phosphate into the peptide KKLNRTLSVA in 1 min.

Reverse transcripts polymerase chain reactions. Total RNA was prepared from LPS-stimulated or control RAW 264 cells using the Rneasy Mini Kit according to the manufacturer's protocol. Total RNA was measured and 100 ng was reverse transcribed using Promega AMV reverse transcriptase (5 U/ml) with the oligonucleotides GTTGGATACAGGCCAGACTTTGTTG and GAGGGTAGGCTGGCCTATAGGCT (coding for the “housekeeping gene” hypoxanthine guanine phosphoribosyl transferase, HPRT), AAGCTCTCCACCTCAATGGACAG and CTCAAACTCCACTTTGCTCT TGA (coding for the IL-1 gene) and CAGCAAATCCTTGCTGTTCC and TGGGCAAAGAATGCAAACATC (coding for the COX-2 gene). Conditions for PCR amplification of the resulting first-stand DNA template were 94° C. denaturing for 30 sec, 60° C. annealing for 1 min, 68° C. extension for 1 min, 30 cycles using thermostable Tf1 DNA polymerase (SU/ml), and 1 mM MgSO₄. The PCR products showed a single band of 352 bp for HPRT and a single band of 515 bp for COX-2.

Results

The LPS-induced activation of MSK1 and MSK2 is mediated by two different MAP kinase cascades. LPS activates both the classical MAPK cascade and SAPK2a/p38 pathway in macrophages as shown by the activation of MAPKAP-K1 (also called p90 RSK) and MAPKAP-K2, respectively [11]. The activation of both enzymes is transient, peaking after 30–60 min before declining to near basal levels after 2 h [11]. In the present study similar findings have been made for MSK1 and MSK2. The activity of these enzymes is negligible in unstimulated macrophages, but greatly elevated after stimulation with LPS. Activation peaks after 30–60 min and declines thereafter (FIGS. 17A and 17B).

In order to identify which signal transduction pathway(s) mediates the activation of MSK1 and MSK2 we examined the effects of SB. 203580 (Section 1) and UO126 which, like PD 98059 (Section 1), inhibits the activation/activity of MKK1 [12]. These studies revealed that a concentration of UO126 that completely suppresses the activation of MAPKAP-K1 (FIG. 18C), only inhibits the activation of MSK1 and MSK2 partially (FIGS. 18A and 18B). Similarly, MSK1 and MSK2 are only inhibited partially by SB 203580 (FIGS. 18A and 18B) at concentrations that completely block the activation of MAPKAP-K2 (FIG. 18D). In contrast, the activation of MSK1 and MSK2 is almost completely suppressed if macrophages are incubated in the presence of both UO126 and SB 203580 (FIGS. 18A and 18B). These observations indicated that the LPS-induce activation of MSK1 and MSK2 is mediated by two different MAP kinase cascades.

The LPS-induced phosphorylation of CREB and ATF1 is mediated by two different MAP kinase cascades. Two putative physiological substrates for MSK1/MSK2 are the transcription factors CREB and ATF1. As shown in FIG. 19A, LPS induces the phosphorylation of CREB and Ser 133 and the phosphorylation of AFT1 at Ser63. Like the activation of MSK1 and MSK2, the phosphorylation of CREB and ATF1 peak after 1 h peak and return to near basal levels after 2 h. Similarly, the LPS-induced phosphorylation of CREB and AFT1 is partially inhibited by SB 203580, partially inhibited by PD 98059, and completely inhibited in the presence of both drugs (FIG. 19B).

The LPS-stimulated induction of COX-2 and IL-1 is mediated by two different MAP kinase cascades. The COX-2 promoter contains a CRE[5]. We therefore decided to examine whether the signaling pathways that mediate that LPS-stimulated induction of this enzyme are the same as those required to activate CREB. The COX-2 protein is undetectable in unstimulated macrophages, but strongly induced 2 h after exposure to LPS. Induction is maximal after 4 h and maintained for at least 8 h (FIG. 20A). The induction of COX-2 is partially inhibited by SB 203580, partially inhibited by PD 98059 and almost completely suppressed in the presence of both drugs (FIG. 20B).

In order to confirm these results by an independent method, we studied the effect of LPS on COX-2 gene transcription. LPS strongly induces COX-2 mRNA, which reaches a maximum level after 2 h stimulation that is sustained for at least 8 h (FIG. 21A). The induction of COX-2 mRNA is partially suppressed by SB 203580, partially suppressed by PD 98059 and almost completely suppressed in the presence of both inhibitors (FIG. 21B).

We also examined the signal transduction pathways that mediate the induction of the proinflammatory cytokine IL-1, whose promoter also contains a CRE. The time course of induction of IL-1 gene transcription is indistinguishable from that of COX-2 gene (FIG. 21A). Interestingly, the induction of IL-1 mRNA is also partially inhibited by PD 98059 partially inhibited by SB 203580 and completely inhibited in the presence of both drugs (FIG. 21B).

In contrast, the mRNA encoding the “housekeeping” gene HPRT is unaffected by LPS, PD 98059 and/or SB 203580 (FIG. 21).

Effect of Ro 318220 on LPS-induced activities. Ro 318220 is a potent inhibitor of MSK1 and several other protein kinases, but many other protein kinases, such as MAPKAP-K2, are unaffected at drug concentrations that ablate MSK1 activity ([1,3], discussed further below). Ro 318220 (5 TM) does not affect the LPS-induced activation of MSK1 and MSK2, MAPKAP-K1or MAPKAP-K2 (FIG. 18), demonstrating that none of the “upstream” protein kinases in these signaling pathways are inhibited by this compound. However, Ro 318220 (5TM) completely prevents the LPS-induced phosphorylation of CREB at Ser133 and ATF1 at Ser63 (FIG. 19). The same concentration of Ro 318220 also suppresses the LSP-stimulated induction of the COX-2 protein (FIG. 4B) and the transcription of the COX-2 and IL-1 (FIG. 21B) genes. In contrast, the mRNA encoding HPRT are unaffected by Ro 318220.

Activation of CREB is insufficient to induce the synthesis of COX-2 or IL-1. The phosphorylation of CREB at Ser 133 and ATF-1 at Ser63 is also catalysed by PKA in vivo and can therefore be induced by agonists, that elevate the intracellular concentration of cyclic AMP, such as forskolin. Stimulation of macrophages with forskolin triggers a similar phosphorylation of CREB and ATF-1 to that induced by LPS (FIG. 22). However, this is not suppressed by PD 98059 plus SB 203580, or by Ro 318220 (data not shown). In contrast to LPS, forskolin does not induce the appearance of a significant amount of COX-2 protein. This finding is considered further below.

Discussion.

In this paper we establish that MSK1 and the closely related MSK2 are present in RAW 264 macrophages and that both kinases are transiently activated in response to LPS (FIG. 17). The rates of activation and inactivation are similar to those of MAPKAP-K1 and MAPKAP-K2 which are convenient “downstream” reporters of the activation of the classical MAP kinase cascade and the SAPK2a/p38 pathway respectively. The LPS-induced activation of MSK1 and MSK2 is partially inhibited by drugs that prevent activation of the classical MAP kinase cascade, partially inhibited by SB 203580 (an inhibitor of SAPK2a/p38) and inhibited almost completely when macrophages are incubated in the presence of both types of drug (FIG. 18). The activity of MSK2 in macrophages is much lower than that of MSK1, and this is also the case in 293, HeLa and PC 12 cells (results not shown).

Transcription factors CREB and ATF1 may be physiological substrates of MSK1 (see Example 1) and MSK2 [13] and the present study is also consistent with this hypothesis. Thus CREB and ATF1 were transiently phosphorylated with similar kinetics to the activation/inactivation of MSK1 and MSK2, phosphorylation was prevented by incubating macrophages with inhibitors of both the classical MAP kinase cascade and SAPK2a/p38, but only partially by inhibition of one of these pathways. Moreover, the phosphorylation of CREB was also prevented by Ro 318220 (FIG. 3B) at concentrations that inhibit MSK1 and MSK2, but only a few other protein kinases. MAPKAP-K2, MAPKAP-K3 and PKA also phosphorylate CREB and ATF1 at Ser133 and Ser63, respectively. However, these protein kinases cannot be rate-limiting for the LPS-induced activation of CREB and ATF1, in contrast to previous reports [1, 2], because they are unaffected in vivo by the concentrations of Ro 318220 used in these experiments (see Example 1 and [1]).

Two genes in macrophages that contain a CRE are those encoding COX-2 [5] and IL-1J [6]. We have found that the LPS-induced transcription of these genes and the synthesis of COX-2 protein is prevented by exactly the same combinations of inhibitors that prevent the activation of CREB; i.e. SB 203580 plus PD 98059 or Ro 318220. These results suggest that MSK1/MSK2 may stimulate transcription of the COX-2 and IL-1J genes, at least in part, by phosphorylating CREB. However another transcription factor, C/EBPJ, has also been reported to paly a critical role in activation of the COX-2 [14] and IL-1,β [15] genes in certain cell lines. Moreover C/EBPJ is reported to be activated by the MAPK/ERK catalysed phosphorylation of a particular threonine residue in NIH 3T3 cells [16], as well as by SAPK2/p38 in 3T3-L1 preadipocytes [17]. Thus PD 98059/UO126 and SB 203580 may suppress the transcription of COX-2 and IL-1J by inhibiting the activation of C/EPBJ as well as the activation of CREB. The requirement for C/EPBβ as well as Creb may explain why activation of CREB alone, induced by cyclic AMP-elevating agents, is insufficient to induce significant transcription of the COX-2 gene. Experiments to address these possibilities are in progress, but direct phosphorylation of C/EBPJ by MAPKs/ERKs and SAPK2a/p38 cannot account for the effects of Ro 318220 on COX-2 and IL-1J gene transcription, since these MAP kinase family members ([3] and results not show) and the signaling pathways that lead to their activation (FIG. 18) are resistant to this drug.

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1. A substantially pure polypeptide comprising SEQ ID NO: 1 or a variant, fragment or fusion thereof, or a fusion of said variant or fragment, wherein said variant has at least about 90% amino acid identity with SEQ ID NO:1 and wherein said polypeptide, variant or fragment thereof or a fusion of said variant or fragment has protein kinase activity and is activated by both MAPK2 and SAPK2.
 2. A recombinant polynucleotide comprising a nucleic acid sequence which encodes the polypeptide as defined in claim
 1. 3. An isolated polynucleotide encoding a fusion of the polypeptide according to claim
 1. 4. A vector suitable for replication in a mammalian/eukaryotic cell comprising a polynucleotide encoding the polypeptide according to claim
 1. 5. The polynucleotide or vector according to any one of claims 2 to 4 which contains no introns.
 6. An isolated host cell comprising a recombinant polynucleotide or a replicable vector as defined in any one of claims 2 to
 4. 7. A method of making a polypeptide, or a variant, fragment, or fusion thereof or a fusion of said variant or fragment, the method comprising culturing a host cell which expresses a polypeptide according to claim 1, or a variant, fragment, or fusion thereof according to claim 1 or a fusion of said variant or fragment according to claim 1 and isolating said polypeptide or a variant, fragment, or fusion thereof or a fusion of said variant or fragment.
 8. A The polypeptide according to claim 1, or a variant, fragment, or fusion thereof according to claim 1 or a fusion of said variant or fragment according to claim 1 produced by the method of claim
 7. 9. A method of identifying a compound that modulates the activity of a polypeptide as defined in claim 1, the method comprising contacting a compound with said polypeptide as defined in claim 1 or a variant, fragment, or fusion thereof as defined in claim 1 or a fusion of a variant or fragment thereof as defined in claim 1 and determining whether the activity of said polypeptide, variant, fragment or fusion is changed compared to the activity of said polypeptide, variant, fragment or fusion in the absence of said compound.
 10. A method according to claim 9 in which the activity is decreased.
 11. A method according to claim 9 in which the activity is increased.
 12. A method of identifying a compound which binds to CREB and either enhances or prevents its activation by the polypeptide as defined in claim 1, the method comprising determining whether the compound enhances or prevents the interaction of CREB or a fragment, variant, or fusion thereof or a fusion of a fragment or variant with the polypeptide as defined in claim 1 or determining whether the compound substantially blocks activation of CREB or a fragment, variant, or fusion thereof or a fusion of a fragment or variant by the polypeptide as defined in claim
 1. 13. A method of identifying a compound which blocks the activation of a polypeptide as defined in claim 1 by an interacting polypeptide, the method comprising determining whether a compound blocks the interaction between (a) a polypeptide as defined in claim 1 or a fragment, variant, or fusion thereof according to claim 1 or a fusion of a fragment or variant according to claim 1 and (b) the interacting polypeptide, or a variant, fragment or fusion thereof or a fusion of a variant or fragment, or determining whether the compound substantially blocks activation of said polypeptide according to claim 1 or a variant, fragment, or fusion thereof according to claim 1, or a fusion of said fragment or fusion according to claim 1 by the interacting polypeptide or a variant, fragment or fusion thereof.
 14. A method of identifying a polypeptide that interacts with a polypeptide as defined in claim 1, the method comprising 1) contacting a) the polypeptide as defined in claim 1 with b) a composition that may contain such an interacting polypeptide, 2) detecting the presence of a complex containing the polypeptide as defined in claim 1 and an interacting polypeptide, and optionally 3) identifying any interacting polypeptide bound to the said polypeptide as defined in claim
 1. 15. A kit comprising a polypeptide as defined in claim
 1. 16. A kit according to claim 15 further comprising a substrate of said polypeptide, wherein the substrate is Crosstide (SEQ ID NO:16), CREBtide (SEQ ID NO:18), CREB, ATF1 or a CREB or ATF1 fusion protein.
 17. A kit according to claim 15 further comprising a protein for activating said polypeptide. 